The world our preindustrial ancestors inhabited was more gruesome than modern minds can fathom.

Trying to imagine the preindustrial past might conjure an image of an idyllic country village with pristine air and residents merrily dancing around maypoles. The healthy, peaceful, prosperous people in this fantasy of pastoral bliss do not realize their contented, leisurely lives will soon be disrupted by the story’s villain: the dark smokestacks of the Industrial Revolution, what the poet William Blake called “satanic mills.” Except that such rose-colored views of history bear no resemblance to reality. 

The preindustrial world was in fact more gruesome than modern minds can fathom, marked by unthinkable poverty, drudgery, grime, cruelty, and pain. From routine child abuse and animal torture to famine-induced cannibalism, and from bloodletting and deadly dentistry to polluted air and streets that doubled as open sewers, practically every aspect of ordinary existence was fraught with horrors. The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past indulges the reader’s morbid curiosity about the history of everyday life with first-hand accounts, shocking facts, and meticulously researched, grotesque detail. 

This book aims to provide insight into the lives of prototypical members of the peasantry who comprised the vast majority of the preindustrial population, and who led lives that most people today would not wish upon their worst enemies. It is hard to remember just how different the past was, often nightmarishly so, but this book offers a comprehensive synthesis of historical research to strip away romantic illusions and confront the harsh reality of preindustrial life.