Hope and Heartbreak A Social History of Wales and the Welsh, 1776-1871

A radically unorthodox portrait of the lives of the Welsh is offered in this social history of Wales from 1789–1870. A large range of social subjects—rich landlords in the south, poor peasants in the north, and such unspeakable persons as bastard children and wizards—are discussed along with engrossing analyses of such unusual institutions as the insane asylum and the rural festival. By interpreting the life experiences and emotions of individual people within Welsh society, this inquiry opens up the fascinating and heretofore hidden world of Wales during the rise of industrial Europe.