Work is central to explaining and understanding rural societies, both here and now as well as in distant places and times. Working people structure the natural environment by directing material and energy flows into productive channels through activities such as plowing, feeding, and harvesting. At the same time, human labor structures the social environment by producing food and other goods and services through division of labor within and between households. In short, work appears as a foundational operation of agrarian systems at the intersection of nature and society. This volume provides answers to the question of how regional agrarian systems were linked to the natural and social environment through labor relations within and between rural households. Historical, ethnological, and socio-ecological case studies describe the spatial and temporal diversity of rural labor relations in early modern Europe and demonstrate how rural actors appropriated and transformed their natural and social environment through their work.