Cognitive Resonance

The Hanley book is one of my favorites, and has been for a while. I was talking with my advisor, who commented that she does invariably take a rosy outlook on the period without necessarily acknowledging openly that there are negative factors she's downplaying (unlike Smith), but it's a really good book all the same, and beautifully written. I think you'd like it; it gives a great sense of what daily life was like at the time.