A pictorial comprehensive history of how people lived, worked, ate, and housed themselves in all areas of Hesse, Germany, including Hesse-Nassau, Rhineland-Hesse, etc. Focusing on the common citizens, not the kings and princes, this is an excellent interpretation of life among the Germans who settled in Pa. Topics: life in the small villages, Protestant Reformation impact on life on the land, Thirty Years War and its hardships on the common folk, relationship of farmers to their landlords, ancient three-field system of agriculture, emigration over the centuries, introduction and evolution of crops (grains, potatoes, fodder), half-timbered framing techniques, and design and use of kitchen stoves. (380pp. illus. index. Heinemeier Pub., 2002.)