The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

Description

The Industrial Revolution was one of the great, transforming events of world history. Robert C. Allen explains what happened during this period, and why. He asks why the revolution occured in Britain rather than other countries, and looks at the impact of changing technology and business organizations on contemporary social structures.

• Discusses the role of the Industrial Revololution, particularly in Britain, as a turning point in the creation of our own modern world
• Offers a brief overview of the many changes that took place in Britain between the middle of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth, including the growth of income and population, industrialization, urbanization, the rise of commercial wealth and the decline of landed wealth, social protest, and economic reform
• Considers the impact industrialization and the proliferation of factories and mass production had on class structure and social conditions
• Analyzes the history of parliamentary reform in relation to the changes in economic and social structure, and shows how contemporary restructuring led to the Corn Laws, the Poor Law, enclosure, turnpikes, canals, trade unions, and urban sanitation
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over seven million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Robert C. Allen, Global Distinguished Professor of Economic History, NYU Abu Dhabi

Bob Allen is Global Distinguished Professor of Economic History at New York University, Abu Dhabi, and a Senior Research Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. Allen has written on English agricultural history, international competition in the steel industry, the extinction of whales, and contemporary policies on education. His articles have won the Cole Prize, the Redlich Prize, and the Explorations Prize. His books include Enclosure and the Yeoman: The Agricultural Development of the South Midlands, 1450-1850 (2009), and Farm to Factory: A Re-interpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution (2003), both of which won the Ranki Prize of the Economic History Association, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (2009), and Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction (2011). Bob Allen is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Canada.

Table of Contents

1:Then and now
2:The pre-Industral Revolution, 1500-1700
3:Why the Industrial Revolution was British
4:The condition of England
5:Reform and democracy
6:The spread of the Industrial Revolution abroad
References
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

"a landmark outline of global economic growth and the British Industrial Revolution in alignment with mainstream economic thinking today." - Avner Offer, Economic History.net

"An authoritative overview of recent perspectives on the Industrial Revolution which is very clearly written and a pleasure to read." - Nick Crafts, Professor of Economic History, University of Warwick