I suspect the OP Audrey has been overwhelmed with suggestions by now. However, for a real picture of what rural life was like for ordinary people in England in the late 19th century I feel obliged to recommend the novels of Thomas Hardy. Not set in Yorkshire, of course, but rather in Wessex (really Dorset), but as good a portrayal as I think you will find of how folks lived in rural communities and on the land. I particularly enjoyed Far From The Madding Crowd, which was also filmed in 1967 and starred Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch and directed by John Schlesinger. The point about Far From The Madding Crowd (Hardy's 4th novel in 1874 and his first successful one) is that it portrayed a rural community that had more or less stood still from an earlier age. Has anyone mentioned Winifred Holtby's "South Riding" - televised over here last year as a four-part series - as a source for Yorkshire life? And, of course, there are the Brontes. Probably Audrey was more concerned with factual history books but I reckon that a few decent novels dealing with the lives of ordinary people can give a greater insight into the true character of a nation than all those books about kings and queens and military commanders. After all, it's the ordinary, unsung folks who are the real backbone of a country - the ones who did the actual work and the fighting. They may have had leaders from a different class but the ancestors of most of us were the ones who did the real work! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE