First Published in 2005. This book is written for the general reader and not for the specialist. It is an attempt to put the Industrial Revolution in its place in history, and to give an idea both of its significance and of the causes that determined the age and the society in which it began. The book is divided into three parts: in part one authors discuss the development of commerce before the Industrial Revolution; part two describes the changes in transport which preceded the railways, the dissolution of the peasant village, the destruction of custom in industry, and the free play that capital found in consequence. Part three examines the first social effects of the change from a peasant to an industrial civilization.
Preface page v
Introduction by R. M. Hartwel xv
Note on Further Reading xxix
Part I
COMMERCE BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
I From the Levant to the Atlantic 1
II England as an Atlantic Power 24
III The Effect of the Wars of Europe 38
IV The New Prestige of Commerce 50
Part II
THE ENGLISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
V The Revolution in Transport 66
VI The Destrne Lion of the Peasant Village 81
VII The Destruction of Custom in Industry 97
VIII The Steam Engine 110
IX The Revolution in Iron 131
X The Revolution in Pottery 162
XI The Revolution in Cotton 178
Part III
THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
XII The Shadow of thee Slave Trade 190
XIII The Curse of Midas 210
XIV A World in Disorder 233
XV The Beginnings of a New Society 245
XVI The World Economic Crisis of the Twentieth Century 263
Index 285
Biography
J.L. Hammond