"History is usually written by winners"

The historian, Christopher Hill, picked up in this and also that history has generally been written by an educated upper-class elite, ignoring the effects on the poor. He sought to give another perspective in his book 'Liberty Against the Law' which uses as its sources, history as seen by popular culture, including folk songs, Robin Hood ballads, the plays of Gay and Shakespeare, sermons, political tracts and more. It's a book that anyone interested in how myths and events influenced the thinking of the common majority should read.

In the same vein, Cobbett's Rural Rides give an excellent insight into the conditions prevailing at that time (although his tirades against Jewish and Quaker financiers do make slightly uncomfortable reading today).