Bread of Dreams : Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Europe

Piero Camporesi is one of the most original and exciting culturalhistorians in Europe today. In this remarkable book he examines theimaginative world of poor and ordinary people in pre-industrialEurope, exploring their everyday preoccupations, fears andfantasies. Camporesi develops the startling claim that many people in earlymodern Europe lived in a state of almost permanent hallucination,drugged by their hunger or by bread adulterated with hallucinogenicherbs. The use of opiate products, administered even to childrenand infants, was widespread and was linked to a popular mythologyin which herbalists and exorcists were important cultural figures.Through a careful reconstruction of the everyday imaginative lifeof peasants, beggars and the poor, Camporesi presents a vivid anddisconcerting image of early modern Europe as a vast laboratory ofdreams. Bread of Dreams is a rich and engaging book which provides afresh insight into the everyday life and attitudes of people inpre-industrial Europe. Camporesi's vision is breathtaking and hiswork will be much discussed among social and cultural historians.This edition includes a Preface by Roy Porter, Professor of theHistory of Medicine at the Wellcome Institute for the History ofMedicine.