"Covering the period from 1660 to 1700, this is the world of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London; of Restoration comedy and the notoriously libertine court of Charles II; of Christopher Wren in architecture, Henry Purcell in music and Isaac Newton in science; of the beginnings of modern banking and the newly emerging middle classes. But first and foremost the book reveals how rich and poor, peasants and town-dwellers, men and women, went about their lives- what they wore and what they ate; how they travelled and how they created comfort in their homes; what they believed in and what they were afraid of. People were living through turbulent times. Although the Restoration set out to return peace and order to Britain after the upheaval created by the civil wars and Cromwell's Commonwealth, these were truly revolutionary decades. Not only did a series of political crises led to the introduction of a constitutional monarchy in 1688, but rapid change in all areas of life made people question long-held views and beliefs, with religion and superstition beginning to give way to a rational and scientific outlook on the world."