We build our lives on essential but seemingly mundane things: Food, Shelter, Families, Neighbors, Work, and Play. The unremembered details of people's everyday struggles and successes have shaped history and continue to drive the world we know. This exciting new resouce offers an unprecedented look at human history's living heart: the billions of anonymous men and women often forgotten by historical studies, but without whose lives human history would be meaningless. Perfect for general readers and students of world history, U.S. history, literature, drama, social studies, anthropology, religion, and more, this award-winning resource offers an unprecedented look at how people lived, ate, dressed, worshipped, toiled, played, married and died, and much much more. Organized by timeframe (each volume covers a finite period) and then by topic (Historical Overview,then Domestic, Economic,Intellectual, Material, Political, Recreational, and Religious Life, followed by primary sources), this set will meet the needs of a vast perecentage of library patrons for both curricular studies as well as personal interest areas.