This book has taken shape in discussion with many people. In 1968, as I was searching for ways to extend the questions about family dynamics and social change first raised in my dissertation on the Peasant War of 1525, I had the benefit of many talks with several anthropology colleagues at the University of East Anglia. Christopher Turner, Robert Groves, and George Bond encouraged me to think in terms of a village study. I spent many hours discussing my plans with Morley Cooper and began a debate with him about the usefulness of anthropology for historical study. At that time, I also met Jack and Esther Goody, who made it possible several years later for me to spend a year in Cambridge reading the literature on kinship. Jack read the final manuscript and made many helpful suggestions.

During the early 1970s, I had the good fortune to be at the University of Pittsburgh, which was one of the great centers of methodological innovation in social history. Sam Hays set the standards for conceptual work, and Larry Glasco encouraged me to computerize the records from Neckarhausen. Discussions with members of the peasant studies group at Pittsburgh, and with Jonathan Levine, the editor of Historical Methods, were important for formulating the project. Sandy Dumin and Ella Jacobs keypunched and verified all of the parish register forms in record time and with professional care. Eva Savol and Raymond Monahan prepared some of the tax records and inventories for keypunching by Lena Crnovic.