History often is seen as history of states or statesmen. It's all about political decisions, not the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Eileen Power tries to write just that, a history of everyday life in the middle ages.
She selects six people from the middle ages whose lives are documented in one form or the other and describes their daily lives and routines, their pleasures and sorrows, their quirks and their qualities as best she can. These descriptions are not historical fiction – they are true history, told in the third person, but with a genuine interest and warm feelings for the person, not just the era or the subject. Where Power's sources run dry, she deduces from sources on other persons' lives or general period information, but always makes it clear that she can only speculate about the significance to the characters at hand.
Before she deals with her subject proper, medieval people, Power inserts a section on three late Roman persons and their lives in what is now France. She finds that they write a lot about their problems and anxieties, also about politics, even about the barbarians waiting as it were at the city gates. But no realisation of the ever closer end of the Roman Empire. This is in itself proof that Power's concept is viable; »everyday« people have »everyday« concerns, and not the rise or fall of empires.
Power's book itself has become history, it's over a hundred years old (and therefore freely available at the Gutenberg Project). What the original version lacks is an extra introduction by French historian Le Roy Ladurie – nevermind, he really only adds sneers at what feminists, socialists, »modern« historians; generally: leftists would certainly not like about Power's texts or the original texts or: history itself. He may very well be mistaken, because apart from the fact that Power seeks to explore the small man's (and woman's) lives, she also has a lot to say about the role women play in medieval society and how not so much has improved until the 20th century. Nor the 21st, it might be added.