Book excerpt: A unique tour through British history—from the perspective of the peasants and the poverty-stricken. The past is traditionally told from the viewpoint of kings and queens, politicians and pioneers. But what about the people struggling to survive at the very lowest levels of society? A Pauper’s History of England covers a thousand years of poverty, from Domesday right up to the twentieth century, via the Black Death and the English Civil War. It paints a portrait of what life was like for the peasants, paupers, beggars, and working poor as England developed from a feudal society into a wealthy superpower. Experience the past from a different perspective: Tour the England of the Domesday Book Make a solemn Franciscan vow of poverty Join the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 Converse with Elizabethan beggars and learn their secret language Meet the inmates of Bedlam Hospital and Bridewell Prison Enjoy a gin-soaked Georgian night of debauchery Spend the night in a workhouse Go slumming in Victorian London, and more!