daily-life-detail books

[pico_the_great]

Little Details, I have a question that may or may not fit here. (If it doesn't, mods: please tell me!)

I have found what looks like an excellent book: China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. This book is, essentially, a book of Little Details - it's got information about every tiny aspect of society, and answers all the sorts of

Comments

[fabulousfrock]

I am also a total sucker for books like this and I collect them whenever I come across them, even if I have no plans to write about the period in question. I'll definitely be adding the one you mentioned to my wishlist! It is very hard to find non-western ones...

Some of the ones in my collection:
The Structures of Everyday Life--Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century by Fernand Braudel (covers entire world during this period, though the emphasis is still western, emphasis on things like food, drink, clothing, economics--since it covers such a broad period & space it is not comprehensive)
All of Liza Picard's books on England
The Pageant of Georgian England
Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders
1700: Scenes from London Life by Maureen Waller

The only one I have on the east that might fit the bill is Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self-Portrait of Small Town Japan by Dr. Junichi Saga, which is a collection of short biographies of people in different professions in Japan in the early 20th century, it has a lot of nice details, but it isn't really designed to be a reference book.

For non-Western (and even non-UK or America) I've found I need to usually get books on a specific topic covered globally, so I have a collection of books specific to costume/clothing, festivals/holidays, housing and architecture, governments, food, musical instruments, blah di blah, around the world. I'm eager to see if anyone else has good recommendations.

[bookblather]

Seconding Inside the Victorian Home and everything Liza Picard ever wrote. I came here specifically to recommend them.