Over the past twenty years population history has become a thriving field of research. In this concise volume, Dr. Houston reviews all the recent literature and explains the different population trends evident in parts of Britain and Ireland. He sets out the sometimes complex interactions among fertility, nuptiality, morality and migration in a clear and comprehensible way, and examines a wide range of topics such as plague and smallpox, childbirth, illegitimacy, migration within Britain and emigration to America.