This collection of essays offers new perspectives on the Industrial                  Revolution as a global phenomenon. The fifteen contributors go beyond the                  longstanding view of industrialization as a linear process marked by discrete                  stages. Instead, they examine a lengthy and creative period in the history of                  industrialization, 1750 to 1914, reassessing the nature of and explanations for                  England's industrial primacy, and comparing significant industrial developments in                  countries ranging from China to Brazil. Each chapter explores a distinctive national                  production ecology, a complex blend of natural resources, demographic pressures,                  cultural impulses, technological assets, and commercial practices. At the same time,                  the chapters also reveal the portability of skilled workers and the permeability of                  political borders. The Industrial Revolution comes to life in discussions of British                  eagerness for stylish, middle-class products; the Enlightenment's contribution to                  European industrial growth; early America's incremental (rather than revolutionary)                  industrialization; the complex connections between Czarist and Stalinist periods of                  industrial change in Russia; Japan's late and rapid turn to mechanized production;                  and Brazil's industrial-financial boom. By exploring unique national patterns of                  industrialization as well as reciprocal exchanges and furtive borrowing among these                  states, the book refreshes the discussion of early industrial transformations and                  raises issues still relevant in today's era of globalization.

Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution (Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Science and Technology) PDF

The list of books you might like