This book was a great eye opener on the subject of family, sex and marriage in England from 1500-1800. It tended to read a bit like a textbook or technical manual and the author kept repeating certain conclusions a little too often. I had to reread some sentences a few times to understand what the author was trying to get at. The last chapter focused on the diaries of two men (one from the late 1600's, the other 100 years later from the late 1700's) and their sexual exploits. Since I was reading this book at work on my lunch breaks it felt like I was getting away with reading pornography.