From the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans to today, the bedroom has changed dramatically in its form and its purpose. In this winner of France's prestigious Prix Femina Essai, Michelle Perrot examines the bedrooms of kings and kids, monks and lovers, in an attempt to better understand the room in which we spend so much of our lives. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including architectural and design treatises, private journals, novels, memoirs, and correspondences, Perrot's engaging book follows the many roads that lead to the bedroom—birth, sex, illness, death—exposing the most intimate, nocturnal side of human history.