Industrialisation and industrial history Books
HarperCollins Publishers Land Rover The Story of the Car that Conquered
Book SynopsisSunday Times BestsellerAs quintessentially British as a plate of fish and chips or a British Bulldog, the boxy, utilitarian Land Rover Defender has become an iconic part of what it is to be British.It is said that for more than half the world''s population, the first car they ever saw was a Land Rover Defender. It mirrors many of our national traits, stiff upper-lipped and slightly eccentric. The car has remained relatively unchanged for nearly seven decades and has spawned an industry that includes dozens of publications, car shows, clubs, associations and even model car collectors who dedicate their lives to the Land Rover.To understand this national love affair, Ben has travelled the length of the British Isles in a Defender, spending time with fellow Land Rover enthusiasts: from visiting Colonel Blashford-Snell, who crossed the jungles of the Darien Gap, to patrolling the streets of Belfast with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Ben has met folk who have converted theiTrade ReviewPraise for Ben Fogle: ‘Funny, entertaining and really rather inspiring, too.’ Daily Mail 'A great escapade told with refreshing frankness.' Independent on Sunday ‘Passionate and well-researched’ Tatler ‘A must-read for anyone with an interest in the history of man's relationship to dogs, regardless of breed, and Fogle's typical adventure-style storytelling keeps the narrative light and entertaining.’ Independent
£10.44
Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc American Muscle Cars
Book SynopsisAmerican Muscle Cars features stunning historic and contemporary photography and offers a thorough chronology of this classic car's evolution from the 1960s to the present.Trade Review"Author Darwin Holmstrom expertly tells the story in an informative and interesting way that make this book fun to read. Darwin's expertise is drawn from his experience of having written, co-written, or contributed to over thirty books with car or motorcycle subjects. The excellent text is matched with 260 color and 55 black and white photos. Dozens of original factory photos are complimented by the work of well-known automotive photographer Tom Glatch. Glatch's large, high quality photos bring these colorful muscle cars to life." * Examiner.com *"Not just another coffee-table picture book, this is a thorough, well-researched, multi-brand history of American performance." * Muscle Car Review *"Holmstrom and Glatch churn up the memories in their book with some great factory archive information with no shortage of photographs." * San Diego Union Tribune *"American Muscle Cars is a fantastic book, sized perfectly for any coffee table. The writing is informative yet thrillingly engaging, creating an extremely rare occurrence: a coffee-table book that is still fun to read straight through. Holmstrom is often irreverent (note the "clackers" use mentioned above), but is so in a charming, funny way which allows him to simply say what he meansâ€â€the best example is when describing what post-WWII babies wanted from their cars: sex appeal. Overall, American Muscle Cars is a well-written, well-laid-out, entertaining read that would be a joyful addition to any auto enthusiasts' book collection." * TheNewsWheel.com *"Auto enthusiast Darwin Holmstrom says that when he was growing up in the Midwest, boys his age were just as interested in muscle cars - sporty models with powerful engines - as they were in girls. New 52, he laments the demise of the vehicles. His new book "American Muscle Cars" (Motorbooks, $50), offers a history, including classics like the Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. Their equivalents today are more sophisticated luxury vehicles like the Aston Martin or Maserati. But for Mr. Holmstrom, they just aren't the same. "A real muscle car doesn't have 19 air bags," he says. "It just has a big, powerful engine that makes your heart stop every time you stomp on the accelerator." * Wall Street Journal *
£38.00
HarperCollins Publishers Chocolate Wars
Book SynopsisThe delicious true story of the early chocolate pioneers by the award-winning writer, and direct descendant of the famous chocolate dynasty, Deborah CadburyIn ''Chocolate Wars'' bestselling historian and award-winning documentary maker Deborah Cadbury takes a journey into her own family history to uncover the rivalries that have driven 250 years of chocolate empire-building.In the early nineteenth century Richard Tapper Cadbury sent his son, John, to London to study a new and exotic commodity: cocoa. Within a generation, John''s sons, Richard and George, had created a chocolate company to rival the great English firms of Fry and Rowntree, and their European competitors Lindt and Nestlé. The major English firms were all Quaker family enterprises, and their business aims were infused with religious idealism.In America, Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars proved that they had the appetite for business on a huge scale, and successfully resisted the English companies'' attempts to master the AmTrade Review'What emerges from Deborah Cadbury's vibrant history is the growing importance of advertising, the birth of brands and the impact of the financial markets' appetite for profit over national interest or social welfare…most poignant is her portrait of an impressive pair of brothers…engaging and scholarly, confident and compassionate…less a family biography than an impressively thought-provoking parable for our times' Daily Telegraph ‘This is history, brought bang up to date, in the hands of a master chocolatier-storyteller’ Evening Standard 'There are fascinating things here…I relished the story of chocolate itself' Observer 'Clear, readable and richly detailed' Sunday Times
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Britains Heritage Railways
Book SynopsisExplore Britain's remaining historic lines with railway expert Julian Holland. The essential guide to exploring Britain’s last remaining historic lines, Britain’s Heritage Railways is ideal for anyone planning or looking for a nostalgic railway trip. From bestselling railway author Julian Holland.Trade Review“If the author is Julian Holland, and the subject is railways, you know you’re going to be in for a treat” Cotswold Life
£13.49
Dorling Kindersley Ltd The Train Book
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£27.00
Penguin Books Ltd More and More and More
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£23.75
Simon & Schuster Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American
Book SynopsisThis revelatory and inclusive book “unearths the stories of the people—farm laborers, domestic workers, factory employees—behind some of the labor movement’s biggest successes” (The New York Times) from independent journalist and Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly.Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America’s civil rights movement. These are only some of the heroes who propelled American labor’s relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law. The names and faces of countless silenced, misrepresented, or forgotten leaders have been erased by time as a privileged few decide which stories get cut from the final copy: those of women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, sex workers, prisoners, and the poor. In this definitive and assiduously researched “thought-provoking must-read” (Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president), Teen Vogue columnist and independent labor reporter Kim Kelly excavates that untold history and shows how the rights the American worker has today—the forty-hour workweek, workplace-safety standards, restrictions on child labor, protection from harassment and discrimination on the job—were earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears. Fight Like Hell comes at a time of economic reckoning in America. From Amazon’s warehouses to Starbucks cafes, Appalachian coal mines to the sex workers of Portland’s Stripper Strike, interest in organized labor is at a fever pitch not seen since the early 1960s. Inspirational, intersectional, and full of crucial lessons from the past, Fight Like Hell is “essential reading for anyone who believes that workers should control their fate” (Shane Burley, author of Why We Fight).Trade Review“Kelly unearths the stories of the people—farm laborers, domestic workers, factory employees—behind some of the labor movement’s biggest successes.” —The New York Times“Kim Kelly's debut is a knockout... Catalyzed by a passionate voice and brisk pacing, Fight Like Hell will leave you with a renewed sense of readiness in your bones.” —Morgan Jerkins, New York Times Bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing, Wandering in Strange Lands, and Caul Baby“You’ll never look at American history the same way again.” —Esquire“As Kim Kelly writes in her book, every story is a labor story. [Fight Like Hell] offers a fuller picture of the history of labor in America and shows how fights previously not considered labor fights were in fact battles for workers' rights, whether it was abolishing slavery, liberating women, ensuring those disabled by work got fair treatment and those born with disabilities had a chance at a fair wage.” —Eric Garcia, author of We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation“Fight Like Hell is the most important book on labor published in a generation." —Shane Burley, author of Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse“In FIGHT LIKE HELL you'll find the true stories of people who have fought to win a better world for themselves and everyone else who has to work for a living.” —Jeremy Brecher, author of National Bestseller Strike!“In this remarkable interweaving of past and present, Kim Kelly brings America’s rich (and bloody) labor history, its most marginalized workers, and their most recent battles to vivid life [...] At once urgent and insightful, FIGHT LIKE HELL not only informs, it inspires.” —Joseph A. McCartin, Executive Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor, Georgetown University “A rousing look at the contributions of marginalized groups to the U.S. labor movement [and] a powerful call for today’s workers to fight for their rights.” —Publisher's Weekly“Freshly inclusive [...] an excellent entry point for a new understanding of work in America.” —Booklist“A well-reasoned argument for restoring unions to their former role in the lives of American workers.” —Kirkus“Meticulously researched and beautifully told, [in FIGHT LIKE HELL] Kim Kelly has established herself as a true champion for the working class.” —Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO President“Kim Kelly throws wide the doors to inspire all of us to seize power for ourselves by showing how—yesterday and today—the oppressed overlooked, the outcasts and the misfits, shaped history. ” —Sara Nelson, International President, Association of of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO“Kim Kelly has written the perfect book for the era of the "Great Resignation.” Filled with revolutionary spirit, Fight Like Hell highlights the contributions of labor leaders both known and obscure, deftly connecting the struggles of the past to the present while proving that every story is a labor story when workers matter. ” —Elizabeth Catte, historian and author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia and Pure America: Eugenics and The Making of Modern Virginia“Kim Kelly is a fresh and compelling voice telling the critical stories of working families that so many others ignore. The struggles of workers to form and build their unions in the face of exploitation and abuse have gone untold for far too long. This book breaks through that silence and brings the voices of workers and their families to the forefront where they belong.” —Cecil Roberts, International President, United Mine Workers of America“The stories Kim Kelly tells provide examples of inspiration and often hope—at a time when the inequalities and injustices that working people endure must no longer be tolerated. And they remind us that nothing changes unless we fight like hell for it.” —Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)
£14.51
The History Press Ltd The Story of Sheffield
Book SynopsisThe story of the world’s first working-class cityTrade Review"Epic new book charts city's long history.""Book gets under the city's skin and reveals just what makes it tick."
£17.00
The History Press Ltd Founded on Iron
Book SynopsisThe genesis of West Ham United Football Club is probably the most fascinating of any professional side. The team that would become the pride of East London and pioneers of the modern game first came into the world as Thames Ironworks. Its players were the tough hammer-men who burnt and beat rivets into some of the greatest ships ever built, including the mighty HMS Warrior, a seagoing war-machine, which was, like the company that built it and its football club, ahead of its time. This is a tale of how philanthropy, religious beliefs, Corinthian ethics, entrepeneurial enterprise and the enthusiasm of working people for a game made a sporting institution that would come to embody the culture and history of the Docklands.
£13.49
Carnegie Publishing Ltd The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths A History
Book SynopsisThe Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths is one of the ancient livery company of the City of London. Illustrated with almost 60 colour photographs and maps, this book provides an important record of the Blacksmiths' Company, as well as a case study of one of the great survivors of London's medieval past, the City livery company.
£19.00
The History Press Ltd The Iron Horse
Book SynopsisWith the nineteenth-century enthusiasm for railways came a demand for everfaster locomotives that could haul greater loads than their predecessors. As different companies competed in what is now known as the steam era', the face of locomotives was changed forever. The Iron Horse is an accessible and illustrated study of the development of the steam railway locomotive, from Trevithick, Hedley, Blenkinsop, Séguin, Stevenson and other pioneers to the ground-breaking analytical work of Chapelon and his disciples. Here John Walter outlines the fascinating history of steam railway locomotives followed by a comprehensive and easy-to-understand directory based on the Whyte wheel classification system. Packed with images, diagrams and contemporary artworks, this well researched book will be indispensable to casual and serious enthusiasts alike.
£21.25
The History Press Ltd Chain and Anchor Making in the Black Country
Book SynopsisFor two centuries, England led the world in the manufacture of chain and anchors, and at the end of the nineteenth century the majority of all the chain workshops in England and Wales were based in the Black Country, notably Cradley, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Quarry Bank and Netherton. Most of the chainshops were very small (many of them were to be found in the backyards of the workers'' houses), and a large number of the chain makers were women. The largest firm was Noah Hingley''s, which manufactured the anchors and anchor cables of the ill-fated Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, while Samuel Taylor of Brierley Hill forged the anchors for the famous Cunard Queen liners. Including personal reminiscences, photographs and sketches, Chain and Anchor Making in the Black Country is a fascinating and authoritative record of this largely vanished industry. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the Black Country or in this important part of its history.
£11.69
MP-MTB University of Manitoba Press I Will Live for Both of Us A History of
Book SynopsisBorn at a traditional Inuit camp in what is now Nunavut, Joan Scottie has spent decades protecting the Inuit hunting way of life. Scottie's I Will Live for Both of Us is a reflection on recent political and environmental history and a call for a future in which Inuit traditional laws and values are respected and upheld.Table of Contents Chapter 1: Growing Up on the Land Chapter 2: Qallunaat, Moving to Town, and Going to School Chapter 3: Uranium Exploration, Petitions, and a Court Case Chapter 4: Kiggavik Round One, the Urangesellschaft Proposal Chapter 5: The Nunavut Agreement and Gold Mining Near Baker Lake Chapter 6: Uranium Policy in Nunavut Chapter 7: Kiggavik Round Two, the AREVA Proposal Chapter 8: Protecting the Land and the Caribou Conclusion
£19.96
Liverpool University Press The Soho Manufactory, Mint and Foundry, West
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£46.55
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC British Diesel Locomotives of the 1950s and ‘60s
Book SynopsisAfter the Second World War, the drive for the modernisation of Britain’s railways ushered in a new breed of locomotive: the Diesel. Diesel-powered trains had been around for some time, but faced with a coal crisis and the Clean Air Act in the 1950s, it was seen as a part of the solution for British Rail. This beautifully illustrated book, written by an expert on rail history, charts the rise and decline of Britain’s diesel-powered locomotives. It covers a period of great change and experimentation, where the iconic steam engines that had dominated for a century were replaced by a series of modern diesels including the ill-fated ‘Westerns’ and the more successful ‘Deltics’.Table of ContentsIntroduction / Planning for the Future / Pilot Pioneers / Power Struggle / Setting the Standards / The Rate of Change / Planning for the Future (Again) / Diesel Locomotive Types Featured in this Book / Further Reading / Places to Visit / Index
£8.54
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd The Night Trains: Moving Mozambican Miners to and
Book SynopsisThis seminal book reveals how black labour was exploited in twentieth-century South Africa, the human costs of which are still largely hidden from history. It was the people of southern Mozambique, bent double beneath the historical loads of forced labour and slavery, then sold off en masse as contracted labourers, who paid the highest price for South African gold. An iniquitous intercolonial agreement for the exploitation of ultra-cheap black labour was only made possible through nightly use of the steam locomotive on the transnational railway linking Johannesburg and Lourenço Marques. These night trains left deep scars in the urban and rural cultures of black communities, whether in the form of popular songs or a belief in nocturnal witches' trains that captured and conveyed zombie workers to the region's most unpopular places of employment. By tracing the journeys undertaken by black migrants, Charles van Onselen powerfully reconstructs how racial thinking, expressed logistically, reflected the evolving systems of segregation and apartheid. On the night trains, the last stop was always hell.Trade Review'The great master of social history, van Onselen, provides us an unsurpassable lesson in the commodification and disposal of human life.' -- James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University'Fierce and lyrical, furious and humane, this is the work of a master historian.' -- Professor James Campbell, Department of History, Stanford University‘Occasionally, social history research shines a piercing light on the entanglement of transport and society. Van Onselen’s dazzling study of just one train route is about journeys loaded with fear, loathing and contempt. The Night Trains is a devastating account of human burden and wreckage.’ -- Gordon Pirie, African Centre for Cities, UCT‘If you have never known about the fourteen-coach up-train 804 and the down-train 307, and their cargo of Mozambican men in cattle wagons, shuttling between Ressano Garcia, in Mozambique, that captured source of mine-bound labour, and Booysens railway station in Johannesburg, that mining hub in Southern Africa hungry for cheap labour, you are now about to know. You will know about colonial visions and the brutal mining origins of South African capitalism. It is an effect that will never let go of you. And then you will ask: where is South Africa today; where is it going? And you will ponder for a long time.’ -- Prof Njabulo S Ndebele, Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town‘The place of technology in social affairs is never neutral. But some are less neutral than others. Writing with deep empathy and evocation for the ordinary people in history for which he has become so uniquely capable, Charles van Onselen tells the story of the role of the locomotive in regimenting, deceiving, ensnaring, holding, destroying, indeed sucking in and puffing out, the thousands of Mozambican miners who came to work the mines of South Africa in the early 20th century. Nelson Mandela named his Presidential residence in Pretoria Mahlamba Ndlopfu (Tsonga for ‘new dawn’) in honour of the people of Southern Mozambique who made (some in) South Africa prosper. Charles van Onselen documents why.’ -- Wilmot James, Visiting Professor at Columbia University and author of Our Precious Metal: African labour in South Africa’s Gold Industry 1970-1990
£27.00
University of London Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of
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£25.64
Carnegie Publishing Ltd Iron Harvests of the Field: The Making of Farm
Book SynopsisIn many ways this book tells a familiar story in British industry: of innovation and enterprise in the early decades ...of worldwide dominance at a time when Britain was the workshop of the world ...of wars and economic downturns ...of foreign competition ...and of relative and absolute decline on the path of de-industrialisation in the latter part of the twentieth century. For most of this period the farm machine industry grew and matured. It is an inspiring story of technological achievement and of industrial success, as farmers and engineers brought iron and steel to fields which had previously been the domain of locally made timber implements and power provided by horses.Agricultural technology moved on, inexorably, from broad-cast seed and the sound of the threshing flail, via the portable steam engine and the threshing machine, right through to the modern world of giant tractors - each with the power of 200 horses - combine harvesters and impressively efficient farming methods.This book traces the broad sweep of the whole industry over 200 years, looking at many individual companies and products to explain how and why the farm machinery industry developed in the way it did. Important individual machines are described and illustrated in detail. The British farm machine industry is unlikely ever again to be large by world standards, nor to dominate the world stage as once it did. Yet the author traces a rich vein of innovation, enterprise and technological inspiration, often taking place within the large number of relatively small-scale, craft-based workshops which were so prevalent in the early decades. Rather than mere manufacturing, therefore, perhaps it is this tradition of technical innovation and invention which marked out the British farm machinery industry for historical greatness, and perhaps it is this tradition which will continue to mark it out in the future.Table of ContentsList of tables ix Preface and acknowledgements xi 1 The origins of an industry, 1750A-1820 1The agricultural revolution 1Farming implements before 1800 4The technological revolution 9The entrepreneurs and their businesses 11The primacy of East Anglia 15Conclusion 18 2 Towards a national market, 1820A-1850 19The economic background 19The agricultural background 20Growth of the industry 23Products and technical change 28Transport developments 32Sales and marketing 35 3 At the works around 1850 39The growth of the factories 39Work in the factory 45Conclusion 49 4 A brief supremacy, 1850A-1875 50The expansion of the home market 50Technical and product change 51Steam Power I: Evolution of the portable engine 52The spread of the threshing machine 57Steam Power II: The steam plough 58Reaping machines 66Mowing machines 70Improved field machinery 73The growth and prosperity of firms 79Marketing 81The rise of the export trade 87Conclusion 91 5 Exports to the rescue, 1875A-1913 92Problems in the home market 92The shift to exports 94Marketing, agents and overseas depots 97The rise of North American competition 98The last export boom 101Conclusions 103 6 A mature industry, 1875A-1913 104The rise of some firms and the fall of others 104Specialisation in steam 112Portable engines 113Ploughing engines 115New products 120Dairy machinery 120Internal combustion engines 123Tractors 126The legal framework, scale of production, and profits 131Conclusion 136 7 At the works in 1913 137Expansion and the larger factory 137Work in the factory c.1913 141Labour conditions and trade unions 142Masters and men 146 8 Dynasties around 1914 147Founding families 147Local influence and social responsibilities 150Gracious living for the third generation? 152Conclusion 156 9 War work, 1914A-1918 157The background 157Government armament contracts 157Labour during the war 162The loss of exports and overseas assets 164Profits and taxes 166The agricultural market and the food production programme 169Fears for the future 178 10 A new world, 1919A-1939 183The boom of 1918A-19 and the slump of 1920A-23 183The collapse of export markets 187Attempts at restructuring the industry 191Changing patterns of demand at home 200The search for new products 206Diversification saves some firms 212Fordson, Ferguson and the revival of the market 214Conclusion 224 11 War work again, 1939A-1945 225Early preparations 225New opportunities in agriculture A- Plough for Victory 228Tractors 228Other machinery 232Government regulation and control 233Loss of export markets 241Armament work 242Imports and Lend-Lease 244Profits and taxes 247The industry in 1945 250 12 A very brief supremacy, 1945A-1973 254The new post-war world and the long economic boom 254Post-war readjustment 255Agricultural policy and prosperity 256The tractor boom 258Growth and structure of the industry 269New opportunities, new products 274The export boom 284Conclusion 286 13 Coping with the competition, 1973A-2000 288The new economic environment: deindustrialisation 288Changes in home demand 290The industry's output 291The maturity of the market 293New products and new versions of old products 295Tractors 295Field machinery 300Changes in the global machinery business 302The rise of foreign competition 304Readjustment and restructuring 306The industry at the end of the twentieth century 312 14 Retrospect 315Long-term factors in the development of the industry: technical change, demand and entrepreneurship 315A part of the British economic decline? 319Conclusion: a story of continuing change 321 Notes and references 323 Bibliography 338 Index 345
£18.04
Mortons Media Group Rail Freight Since 1968: Wagonload
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£16.19
Uniformbooks Decommissioning the twentieth century
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£12.00
Duckworth Books Empire of Guns The Violent Making of the
Book SynopsisEmpire of Guns expertly brings to life a bustling industrial society with a human story at its heart to offer a radically new understanding of a critical historical moment and all that followed from it.Trade Review'A fascinating study of the centrality of militarism in 18th-century British life, and how imperial expansion and arms went hand in hand... This book is a triumph' Guardian'A fascinating and important glimpse into how violence fueled the industrial revolution, Priya Satia's book stuns with deep scholarship and sparkling prose' Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies'Satia's detailed retelling of the Industrial Revolution and Britain's relentless empire expansion notably contradicts simple free market narratives... She argues convincingly that the expansion of the armaments industry and the government's role in it is inseparable from the rise of innumerable associated industries from finance to mining... Fascinating' New York Times'Satia marshals an overwhelming amount of evidence to show, comprehensively, that guns had a place at the center of every conventional tale historians have so far told about the origins of the modern, industrialized world... This book leaves us with the disquieting notion that guns - whether the slow and inaccurate weapons of the eighteenth century or today's models - do more than alternately cloak or explore human inclination towards violence. They also shape it' New Republic'A richly researched and probing historical narrative that challenges our understanding of the engines that drove Britain’s industrial revolution. With this book, Priya Satia... affirms her place as a deeply captivating and thought-provoking historian' Caroline Elkins, Pulitzer Prize winner for Imperial Reckoning'An important revisionist account of the industrial revolution... a revelatory book' Sven Beckert, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Empire of Cotton
£14.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Times The Joy of Railways Remembering the
Book SynopsisA beautiful treasury of railway memorabilia Journey back to the 1950s and ’60s with this nostalgic look at Britain’s railways in their glory days. Beautifully illustrated throughout with a unique collection of photographs, train spotting notebooks and railway ephemera.
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers All Aboard
Book SynopsisFrom best-selling railway expert, Julian Holland, explore Britain's historical railways in All Aboard.The history of Britain's railways is a long and fascinating one, filled with stories of grand endeavours, noted figures and record-breaking feats.Julian Holland brings together a unique miscellany of intriguing tales and engaging trivia the perfect collection for every railway enthusiast.Stories range from Bulleid's ''Chinese Laundries'', trainspotting trips in Wales and Scotland and Liverpool's Dockers' Umbrella'' to railway artists and clergy, a railway-owned airline and railways that were never built.Find out about The Royal Scot's 11,000-mile journey in the USA and Canada A narrow gauge island railway in the middle of the Bristol Channel How the London & South Western Railway saved the British Empire Mallard's unbeaten world speed record of 1938 How to fly by Great Western Railway from Cardiff to Plymouth The 75-mile network of narrow gauge railways on the Isle of Skye How anotherTrade Review“If the author is Julian Holland, and the subject is railways, you know you’re going to be in for a treat” Cotswold Life
£12.74
HarperCollins Publishers Britains Steam Locomotives
Book SynopsisIt is more than 200 years since the world's first steam railway locomotive hauled its initial load of iron ore and passengers on a short, slow journey. From that time onwards, the evolution of the steam locomotive continued unabated through the 19th century and on into the 20th.Steam haulage on Britain's nationalised railways ended in 1968, yet the British public's love affair with these magnificent machines endures. In this volume you'll find:Features on 100 of the most impressive British steam locomotivesStories of the fascinating engineers who designed themBeautiful imagery from the country's leading railway photographersWritten by best-selling railway author Julian Holland, Britain's Steam Locomotives is the perfect addition to any railway enthusiast's collection.
£27.00
Vintage Publishing The Tunnel Through Time
Book SynopsisNewly opened by Queen Elizabeth II herself, discover the history and secret stories of the people who''ve lived above London''s newest trainline.Crossrail, or the ''Elizabeth'' line, is just the latest way of traversing the very old east-west route through the former countryside, into the capital, and out again. Throughout The Tunnel Through Time, renowned historian Gillian Tindall uncovers the lives of those who walked this ancient path. These people spoke the names of ancient farms, manors and slums that now belong to our squares and tube stations. Visiting Stepney, Liverpool Street, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, Tindall traces the course of many of these historical journeys across time as well as space. ''Enchanting'' Sunday Telegraph''Deftly weaves together archaeology, social history, politics, myth, religion and philosophy'' The Times''Fully of lively vignettes'' SpectatorTrade ReviewTindall has an eye for a good line. Her sources are eclectic and illuminating...The Tunnel Through Time is a book to savour. It is subtle, considered and powerfully evocative of London's "changeful" landscape. * Daily Telegraph *Tindall is a sure-footed, even revelatory guide to the treasures of London that Crossrail has unintentionally brought to our notice. -- Jerry White * Guardian *In this engaging book Gillian Tindall ... a veteran historian with an eye for the macabre, the quirky and the absurd ... deftly weaves together archaeology, social history, politics, myth, religion and philosophy -- Richard Morrison * The Times *Ms Tindall skilfully blends ancient histories, archaeological findings and contemporary context * The Economist *These underground stories remind us that buried spaces are places of protection as well as of the fearfully unknown, of hope and of political resistance, of science as well as of persistently chthonic mythology. There’s always a quirky and sometimes a grisly journey to be had beneath our streets * Evening Standard *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Enlightened Economy Britain and the
Book SynopsisWhy did Western countries become so much wealthier than the rest of the world? What explains the huge rise in incomes during the Industrial Revolution - and why did Britain lead the way?In the years between the Glorious Revolution and the Great Exhibition, the British economy was transformed. Joel Mokyr''s landmark history offers a wholly new perspective for understanding Britain''s extraordinary rise during the Industrial Revolution, showing how intellectual, rather than material, forces were the driving force behind it. While empire, trade, resources and other factors all played a part, above all it was the creative ferment of the Enlightenment - with its belief in progress and scientific advancement - that affected the economic behaviour of thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs and artisans, taking Britain into the modern era.Linking ideas and beliefs to the heart of modern economic growth, The Enlightened Economy will transform the way we view the Industrial Trade ReviewHe buttresses his argument with deep knowledge of the times and massive scholarship. Everyone interested in history should read this great work. -- George A. Akerlof * University of California at Berkeley *A great economic historian gives us a sweeping perspective on a pivotal period of history: Britain during the Industrial Revolution. Tracing a long series of economic innovations and political reforms back to the ideas of the Enlightenment, Joel Mokyr shows us the foundations of the modern world. -- Roger B. Myerson * University of Chicago *Mokyr utilises deep knowledge of technological and industrial history, often narrated at the level of the individual inventor, thinker, factory owner or craftsman...[He] narrates brilliantly a rich story of modern economic growth.... Mokyr has made a deeply impressive contribution. -- David Greasley * BBC History *This is a large, learned and challenging book ... [which] anyone interested in history and the current economy needs to read -- Maxine Berg * TLS *
£19.80
Penguin Books Ltd Victorious Century The United Kingdom 18001906
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2018 ''This is stupendous. The British nineteenth century, in all its complexity, all its horror, all its energy, all its hopes is laid bare. This is the definitive history, and will remain so for generations'' A.N. WilsonTo live in nineteenth-century Britain was to experience an astonishing series of changes, of a kind for which there was simply no precedent in the human experience. There were revolutions in transport, communication, work; cities grew vast; scientific ideas made the intellectual landscape unrecognizable. This was an exhilarating time, but also a horrifying one.In his dazzling new book David Cannadine has created a bold, fascinating new interpretation of the British nineteenth century in all its energy and dynamism, darkness and vice. This was a country which saw itself at the summit of the world. And yet it was a society also convulsed by doubt, fear and introspection. Victorious Century rTrade ReviewA book such as this is a work of heroic summary. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Magnificent... a thumping great book, and it is probably destined to become a classic. Cannadine succeeds triumphantly. -- Jane Ridley * Spectator *A sparkling history, immensely readable * Guardian *
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Second City
Book SynopsisA DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022''There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinen''s'' Jonathan Coe, Financial Times''Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy it'' Daily TelegraphFor over a century, Birmingham has been the second largest town in England. In his richly enjoyable new book Richard Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production and full employment that began in the 1930s, but which came to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Indeed, much of British history can be explained, in large measure, with reference to Birmingham.Vinen roots his sweeping story in the experience of individuals. This is a book about figures everyone has heard of, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Duran Duran, and also about those that everyone ought to have heard of. It captures the ways in which hundreds of thousands of people - from the Welsh miners who poured into the car factories in the 1930s to the young women who danced to reggae in the basement of Rebecca''s nightclub in the 1980s - were caught up in the convulsions of social change.Birmingham is not a pretty place, and its history does not always make for comfortable reading. But modern Britain does not make sense without it.Trade ReviewVinen's biography of the city is a spirited attempt at uncovering the mystery of how Birmingham, in his view, has managed for so long to stand at the centre of Britain's modern industrial, economic, political and cultural history without anyone noticing... This absorbing book shows us how we did it. -- Lynsey Hanley * Observer *Richard Vinen's new history of his native city explains everything ... Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy it. -- Matthew Sweet * Daily Telegraph *[A] sweeping history ... There's a much better story to be told [about Birmingham] - and it's revealed between the covers of this book. -- Pete Paphides * The Times *A superb retort to [the] slings and arrows of derision ... Birmingham's very mutability ... is the key to its survival. -- Stuart Jeffries * Spectator *Absorbing ... There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinen's. -- Jonathan Coe * Financial Times *Birmingham's ordinariness has prevented us from seeing what is extraordinary in its history. Brummies shaped our everyday world ... Vinen's book provides a template for how we might level up the way we write about England's northern and Midland cities. -- Robert Colls * Literary Review *Second City makes the case that Brum is, for all its amorphousness, England's second city, and rightly pays tribute to Joe Chamberlain for transforming it through his progressive policies in the 1870s. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph Books of 2022 *A key text for understanding our times ... Highly recommended, truly thought provoking. -- Ruth Barbour * Open History *PRAISE FOR NATIONAL SERVICE: Written with compassion and insight, Vinen's book brilliantly recreates the atmosphere of postwar Britain. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times Books of the Year *I can't recall ever having read so unexpectedly fascinating a book... every single page has something of great interest on it. -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *
£14.24
Oxford University Press Women and the Miners Strike 19841985
Book SynopsisJust days into the miners'' strike of 1984-1985, a few women in coalfield communities around Britain began to meet to consider how they could support the strike, a clash with the Thatcher government over the future of the coal industry. Women ultimately formed a national network of groups that some observers saw as an ''alternative welfare state'', helping to keep the strike going for just under a year. This book is the first study of this national movement, illuminating its achievements, but also telling the less well-known story of arguments and divisions with men in the National Union of Mineworkers and feminists in the women''s liberation movement. Many women in the movement, despite their activism, resolutely denied that they were ''political'' at all, defining themselves as ''ordinary'' women, housewives, mothers, and workers; and, despite some claims that women activists had been transformed for ever by their experiences, most of those involved felt they had been changed only inTable of Contents1: Introduction 2: Before the strike 3: Early days: Spring 1984 4: High noon: Summer 1984 5: Crisis and drift: Autumn 1984 6: Flood back to defeat: Winter 1984-1985 7: Aftermath 8: Remembering the strike Appendix I: Details of project interviewees Appendix II: Details of key sociological studies of the strike and aftermath Appendix III: Chronology
£33.25
Oxford University Press Technology A World History New Oxford World History
Trade ReviewHeadrick restores a broad definition of technology that enhances the value of this wide-ranging survey....it suits the New Oxford World History series goals of highlighting major trends and stimulating thinking. * Choice *Table of ContentsChapter 1: Stone Age Technology ; Chapter 2: Hydraulic Civilizations (4000-1500 BCE) ; Chapter 3: Iron, horses, and Empires (1500 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.) ; Chapter 4: Post-Classical and Medieval Revolutions (500-1400) ; Chapter 5: An Age of Global Interactions (1300-1800) ; Chapter 6: The First Industrial Revolution (1750-1869) ; Chapter 7: The Acceleration of Change (1869-1939) ; Chapter 8: Toward a Post-Industrial World (1939-2000)
£23.39
Oxford University Press Weaving Histories
Book SynopsisWeaving Histories looks at the economic history of South Asia from a fresh perspective, through a detailed study of the handloom industry of South India between 1800 and 1960, drawing out its wider implications for the Indian economy. It employs an unusual array of sources, including paintings and textile samples as well as archival records, to excavate the links between cotton growing, cleaning, spinning and weaving before the nineteenth century. The rupture and re-configuration of these links produced a sea-change in the lives of ordinary weavers. Weaving Histories examines the configuration of forceslocal, regional, national and globalthat drove this transformation, and uncovers its effects on different groups of weavers.The handloom industry is used as a case study to throw light on the historical emergence of the ''informal sector'' in India, and to re-examine contemporary debates about industrialisation and economic development.Trade ReviewIn Weaving Histories, Karuna Dietrich Wielenga mobilizes an impressive range of sources to show that for at least south India many of the truisms often repeated are, if not incorrect, then surely imprecise. To understand the important revisionist work of this book, the author provides a careful analysis not just of weaving but also of raw cotton cultivation and spinning. * Giorgio Riello, European University Institute, Labour History Review *By providing the local, granular details of handloom production, Weaving Histories not only sets the stage for a nuanced understanding of a sophisticated industry within a complex socioeconomic environment but also offers greater targeted insights into its technical, social, and economic operations. * Alka Raman, Victoriaand Albert Museum, Technology and Culture, Volume 63, Number 1 *Weaving History is an exceptional scholarly work that not only engages lively with these debates but indeed also offers answers and insightful analysis. To begin with the book combines different traditions to produce an excellent outcome. It bridges economic, social, cultural, and labor history while it rarely compromises on any of these fronts. The length and breadth of the sources employed in the book is similarly truly impressive ... Weaving History is thus an outstanding contribution to existing debates and would hopefully bring new life to some of the classical questions concerning the economic/social nexus. * Nikolay Kamenov, H-Soz-Kult *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction 1: The Geography of Weaving: South India in the Early Nineteenth Century 2: Statistics, Looms and People: The Changing Contours of the Handloom Industry 3: From Cotton to Cloth: The Linking Threads 4: Weaving: Changing Structures 5: Caste and Work 6: Solidarity and Action 7: The State and the Weaver Conclusion Appendix: Note on the Loom Tax Bibliography Index
£76.00
Oxford University Press Enlightened Metropolis Constructing Imperial Moscow 17621855 Oxford Studies In Modern European History
Book SynopsisImperial Russia, is was said, had two capital cities because it had two identities: St. Petersburg was Russia''s window to Europe, whereas Moscow preserved the nation''s proud historical traditions. Enlightened Metropolis challenges this myth by exploring how the tsarist regime actually tried to turn Moscow into a bridgehead of Europe in the heartland of Russia. Moscow in the eighteenth century was widely scorned as backward and Asiatic. The tsars thought it a benighted place that endangered their state''s internal security and their effort to make Russia European. Beginning with Catherine the Great, they sought to construct a new Moscow, with European buildings and institutions, a Westernized middle estate, and a new cultural image as an enlightened metropolis. Drawing on the methodologies of urban, social, institutional, cultural, and intellectual history, Enlightened Metropolis asks: How was the urban environment - buildings, institutions, streets, smells - transformed in the nine dTrade ReviewEnlightened Metropolis offers an important revisionist challenge to Moscow's marginal status in the modernization of the Russian Empire. * Daniel Beer, The Times Literary Supplement *[a] fine new history of Moscow * James Cracraft, English Historical Review *This work will become and should remain a standard reference point for studies of Moscow and indeed Russia of this period for decades to come. * Paul Keenan, History *Enlightened Metropolis is a prodigiously researched book ... The reader is amazed by the wealth of sources and statistics and the relentless comparison of Moscow with Russian and other European cities ... [Martin] has significantly advanced the urban, social, institutional, and cultural study of the empire during the watershed period of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. * Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, Journal of Modern History *The book will become essential to any course on Russian cities, and would be equally well suited to courses on comparative urban history, or on Russian social history because of its nuanced and original perspective on Russian social hierarchies ... the book offers scholars rich detail on material culture, everyday life, urban personal narratives, the development of Russian urban ethnography, and memory and nostalgia. It should be required reading for anyone interested in the history of imperial Russia. * Katherine Pickering Antonova, Ab Imperio *Alexander Martin's Enlightened Metropolis is important and admirable work, which gives to Moscow its rightful place in a Russian Enlightenment ... masterful * Albert J. Schmidt, Journal of Social History *an enormously rich account based on extensive historical research ... contextualizing Moscow's history within the wider history of urban Europe, and providing an account illuminating the city's history from a number of competing perspectives -- including those of the rich, poor, and middling, as well as those of foreigners. Martin's is thus a well-rounded history of Moscow as an idea, a built environment, and a lived community. * Comments from the Urban History Association on the award of the 2015 prize for the best book of 2013-2014 in non-North American urban history *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Enlightened Metropolis and the Imperial Social Project ; 2. Space and Time in the Enlightened Metropolis ; 3. Envisioning the Enlightened Metropolis: Images of Moscow under Catherine II ; 4. Barbarism, Civility, Luxury: Writing about Moscow in the 1790s-1820s ; 5. Government, Aristocracy, and the Middling Sort ; 6. The 1812 War ; 7. Common Folk in Nicholaevan Moscow ; 8. Complacency and Anxiety: Representations of Moscow under Nicholas I ; Conclusion
£41.49
Oxford University Press Peterloo
Book SynopsisOn 16 August, 1819, at St Peter''s Field, Manchester, armed cavalry attacked a peaceful rally of some 50,000 pro-democracy reformers. Under the eyes of the national press, 18 people were killed and some 700 injured, many of them by sabres, many of them women, some of them children.The ''Peterloo massacre'', the subject of a recent feature film and a major commemoration in 2019, is famous as the central episode in Edward Thompsons Making of the English Working Class. It also marked the rise of a new English radical populism as the British state, recently victorious at Waterloo, was challenged by a pro-democracy movement centred on the industrial north.Why did the cavalry attack? Who ordered them in? What was the radical strategy? Why were there women on the platform, and why were they so ferociously attacked? Using an immense range of sources, and many new maps and illustrations, Robert Poole tells for the first time the full extraordinary story of Peterloo: the English Uprising.Trade ReviewThis is the definitive account of Peterloo and the book's place as a key text in the history of British politics and society should be long-lasting. * Katrina Navickas, History Today, Books of the Year 2019 *[Poole's] description of the events on the actual day is gripping and deserves a wide readership ... His book [throws] light on exactly how the day's terrible events were allowed to happen. * Nick Rennison, The Daily Mail *A major new history ... Poole is right when he argues that Peterloo should still make us angry. * Daisy Hay, The Financial Times *Robert Poole's new book is essential reading for anyone studying, teaching or otherwise interested in the Peterloo massacre. Timed to coincide with the bicentenary in 2019, Peterloo: The English Uprising is the first book-length study of Peterloo to be published by a 'serving academic' since 1958. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully written and featuring beautiful illustrations, maps and prints (as well as a very welcome 'List of Principal Characters'), it is sure to be the definitive account for years to come. * Fiona Milne, The BARS Review *Peterloo serves as a useful reminder that the events of Peterloo, and the government's need to cover the tracks of the Lancashire authorities and suppress an uprising caused by the wave of national disgust at their actions, rather than the strength of the radical reform movement itself, provided the chief impetus for the wave of suppressive legislation in 1819. * Martin Spychal, Parliamentary History *Robert Poole gives a comprehensive overview of the country at the time. His description of the massacre is vivid and enthralling. * Paul Donnelley, The Express *Peterloo: The English Uprising [...] is perhaps the definitive text on the event. * Colin Drury, The Independent *One of the important features of Poole's account is to put place back at the centre of the story. His analysis is especially strong in exploring the specific local economies, cultures and employment of the areas around Manchester, home to so many of the casualties at Peterloo ... Striking characters emerge ... This is an impressive and engaging work of scholarship, and will be an authoritative point of reference on the topic ... the account Poole presents is vivid, attentive and detailed. * Clare Griffiths, The Times Literary Supplement *There is little to criticise in this well-argued and detailed study... if positioned alongside studies of other regions, this book will provide readers with a sweeping reassessment of the social, political and economic struggles that shaped nineteenth-century England. Peterloo: The English Uprising will likely become a foundational text for historians of protest, with Pooles scholarly yet accessible analysis providing a clear example of regional historys strengths and importance. * Leonard Baker, University of Bristol, Romance, Revolution & Reform *Poole is a gifted writer with an eye for the telling phrase that brings a character or episode to life ... What makes The English Uprising so vivid is the sheer range and diversity of sources used from newspaper accounts, letters and memoirs to reports submitted by police spies and courtroom documents. * Dr Janette Martin, Reviews in History *The English Uprising is the definitive history of Peterloo - balanced, scholarly yet accessible and, with good reasons, still indignant after 200 years. * BBC History Magazine *Carefully researched, this is a comprehensive and clearly argued book which has much to tell us about social, economic and political conditions in the early 19th century. * Andy Hedgecock, The Morning Star *Generously illustrated ... vivid and immensely readable, peppered with evocative phrases that jump from the page ... Poole [writes] convincingly and for everyone ... Peterloo: The English Uprising succeeds both as the definitive account of Peterloo and as a moving tribute to the people caught up in the horrors of that day. * The Fabian Review *Poole has [...] provided a new and perhaps definitive understanding of who was involved [at Peterloo]. * Keith Flett, London Socialist Historians *[Peterloo] took place 200 years ago but still inspires an anger that is expressed brilliantly in a new history by Robert Poole ... Poole's history is the book those who protested at Peterloo - and those who continue to oppose the same vicious ruling class today - deserve. * Judy Cox, The Socialist Worker *It used to be said that history was written by the victors ... But Robert Poole is on the side of those who fought for democracy and a better life ... read [Peterloo] and understand the lessons of the early working class in England for the struggles today. * Kevin Parslow, The Socialist *This book is local history at its best - it puts Manchester at the centre of the story, but within a national context. It provides a comprehensive account of the events of 16th August 1819. * Duncan Bowie, Chartist *This is a brilliant, in-depth study of the famous massacre ... very much in the tradition of Edward Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class and Linda Colley's Britons. * Nigel Potter, The Spokesman *Robert Poole's book is an amazing piece of academic research ... compulsive reading. * The Gaskell Society *Robert Poole's book is, perhaps the best book ever written on [Peterloo]. It's well written, exhaustive and covers every aspect of the movement ... It is a masterpiece of historical writing and should be read, not just by those who want to understand Peterloo but by those who want to see how mass struggle was at the heart of the movements that won the rights we have today. * Resolute Reader *The book is clearly the result of immense research, pulled together into a very readable narrative that is accessible to the non-historian without in any way over-simplifying the content ... I found the long first section on the political, social and economic background fascinating and written with great clarity, while the description of the event itself at the end is excellent ... Democracy is a fragile thing, and this book is an excellent reminder of how hard-fought the battle was to win it. I highly recommend it. * FictionFan *The best-documented crowd event of the nineteenth century, Peterloo provides Poole with what he calls Manchester's Montaillou moment, enabling him to uncover hidden aspects of its past. Such thorough and painstaking research through a myriad of sources makes his damning judgement against the authorities all the more powerful. * John Belchem, Labour History Review *Robert Poole was immensely helpful to us with our preparation of our film 'Peterloo'. Now his encyclopaedic knowledge and deep understanding appears in what will become the definitive book on the subject. * Mike Leigh, Director of Peterloo *It's an absolute masterpiece, full of informative detail and also extremely readable. * Professor Jon Mee, University of York *In this gripping and moving book Robert Poole gives us what will surely come to be seen as the definitive account of this never to be forgotten turning point in British political history. * Michael Wood, Professor of Public History, University of Manchester *Table of ContentsPrologue 1: England in 1819 2: Regency Manchester 3: Manchester at war 4: Reformers 5: Petitioners 6: Rebels 7: Conspirators 8: Strikers 9: Hunt in Manchester 10: Mass platform 11: Order, order 12: March 13: Massacre 14: Aftermath 15: Reckoning
£26.77
The University of Chicago Press The Work Ethic in Industrial America 18501920
Book SynopsisThe phrase a strong work ethic conjures images of hard-driving employees working diligently for long hours. But where did this ideal come from, and how has it been buffeted by changes in work itself? This book shows how the new work culture permeated society, including literature, politics, the emerging feminist movement, and the labor movement.Trade Review"A delight to read." (Journal of Interdisciplinary History)"
£22.80
The University of Chicago Press The Postal Age
Book SynopsisPresents an argument that postal network initiated cultural shifts during the nineteenth century, laying the foundation for the interconnectedness that defines our world of telecommunications. This book traces these shifts from their beginnings. It paints a picture of a society where possibilities proliferated for communications.Trade Review"The Postal Age is engagingly written, rich with anecdotes and observations that dramatize and illuminate the manifold facets of 'postal culture' in the antebellum United States.... It is a major contribution to American social history and to the history of communications in general." - Geoffrey Nunberg, author of Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Controversial Times "The Postal Age succeeds in joining two kinds of history writing: the thoroughly professional and the engagingly popular. David M. Henkin offers a clinic in how to combine social analysis of institutions with cultural study of the rituals, emotions, and meanings by which people pattern their lives." - Richard Wightman Fox, author of Jesus in America"
£24.70
The University of Chicago Press HumanBuilt World How to Think about Technology
Book SynopsisIn Human-Built World, Thomas P. Hughes restores to technology the richness and depth it deserves by writing its intellectual history.Trade Review"Thomas P. Hughes presents a wide-ranging yet deeply insightful view of technology and how its relationship to society and culture has changed over time. Readers of this book will benefit greatly from Hughes's informed and understanding perspective on what technology is and how it is perceived." - Henry Petroski, author of Small Things Considered; "Human-Built World offers a thoroughgoing, incisively rendered and engaging history of humanity's relationship to technology.... Although Hughes gives invention and engineering a central role in the creation of our world, the purpose of his sprightly polemic is to rail against technological determinism.... As technically based systems already invisibly govern so much of our daily lives and will continue to penetrate our culture still further, this is a timely and urgent book." - Adam Wishart, Times Literary Supplement; "Do we 'think' about technology? Probably not. It is the stuff that surrounds us. Yet even if we no longer wonder at the internet or mobile telephones, we worry about chemical weapons and human cloning. Indeed, as Thomas P. Hughes shows in this brilliantly concise history, people were arguing about the rights and wrongs of technology long before the term gained currency in the late 20th century." - Mark Archer, Financial Times"
£21.00
The University of Chicago Press Selling Power Economics Policy and Electric
Book SynopsisWe remember Thomas Edison as the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, but he deserves credit for something much larger, an even more singular invention that profoundly changed the way the world works: the modern electric utility industry. Edison's light bulb was the first to work within a system where a utility generated electricity and distributed it to customers for lighting. The story of how electric utilities went within one generation from prototype to an indispensable part of most Americans' lives is a story about the relationships between political and technological change. John L. Neufeld offers a comprehensive historical treatment of the economics that shaped electric utilities. Compared with most industries, the organization of the electric utility industry is not and cannot be economically efficient. Most industries are kept by law in a state of fair competition, but the capital necessary to start an electric company generators, transmission and distribution systems, and
£52.00
The University of Chicago Press Mastering Iron The Struggle to Modernize an
Book SynopsisVeins of iron run deep in the history of America. Yet it was Great Britain that became the Atlantic world's dominant low-cost, high-volume producer of iron. The author argues that the prolonged development of the American iron industry was largely due to geographical problems the British did not face.
£56.65
The University of Chicago Press Ogborn M Indian Ink
Book SynopsisExploring the relationship between power and knowledge in European engagement with Asia, this work examines the East India Company at work and reveals how writing and print shaped authority on a global scale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It also uncovers the intellectual and political legacies of early modern trade and empire.
£52.88
The University of Chicago Press The Dawn of Green
Book SynopsisPurchased by the city of Manchester in the 1870s, Thirlmere was dammed and converted into a reservoir. This book examines the battle for Thirlmere and the clashes between conservationists who wished to preserve the lake and developers eager to meet the needs of industry and a growing urban population.Trade Review"This is the first detailed study of a pathbreaking late nineteenth-century controversy about whether to turn a lake in England's most scenic district into a reservoir to provide water for the fast-growing industrial city of Manchester. The debate over Thirlmere pitted nature against progress, a conflict that has become common in the century since. Ritvo tells the story with skill and insight, and The Dawn of Green will be widely read." - Adam Rome, author of The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism"Table of ContentsIntroduction One The Unspoiled Lake Two The Dynamic City Three The Struggle for Possession Four The Cup and the Lip Five The Harvest of Thirlmere Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Illustration Credits Index
£28.49
The University of Chicago Press The Enlightenment and the Book Scottish Authors
Book SynopsisOffers an understanding of the Enlightenment and the forgotten role of publishing during that period. This title seeks to remedy the common misperception that such classics as The Wealth of Nations and The Life of Samuel Johnson were made by their authors alone.Trade Review"A major achievement." - Times Literary Supplement "This is an exceptional piece of work. It is both an astonishing accumulation of informative detail and a multiplicity of lively interconnected narratives of authors, books, booksellers, printers and other subjects. It is a very useful reference book, with its nearly 150 pages of tables and bibliographies; it is also an engaging and stimulating read." - Antonia Forster, Review of English Studies "Discerningly illustrated, at once scholarly and accessible, this is an essential addition not only to eighteenth-century studies but also to the history of the book." - Atlantic"
£36.10
The University of Chicago Press Networks of Improvement
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Richly archival and powerful in its conceptions, Mee’s Networks of Improvement boldly goes where few literary historians have been before, into the heartlands of industrializing Britain for a magisterially orchestrated and methodologically groundbreaking study. Mee has given us a picture of British intellectual and social relationships that will stand unmatched for a long time to come.” * Jon Klancher, Carnegie Mellon University *“Mee offers a sophisticated account of reading as a social practice central to the circulation of knowledge, both grand and granular, responsive to large questions with local particularities. Networks of Improvement is comprehensive, clearly written, and carefully organized.” * Jonathan Sachs, Concordia University *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Networks and Institutions 1 Power, Knowledge, and Literature 2 The Collision of Mind with Mind: Manchester and Newcastle, 1781–1823 3 Improvement Redux: Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield, 1812–32 Part Two: Bodies and Machines 4 Three Physicians around Manchester 5 Hannah Greg’s Domestic Mission 6 An Inventive Age 7 Lives, Damned Lives, and Statistics Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index
£79.80
The University of Chicago Press Networks of Improvement
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Richly archival and powerful in its conceptions, Mee’s Networks of Improvement boldly goes where few literary historians have been before, into the heartlands of industrializing Britain for a magisterially orchestrated and methodologically groundbreaking study. Mee has given us a picture of British intellectual and social relationships that will stand unmatched for a long time to come.” * Jon Klancher, Carnegie Mellon University *“Mee offers a sophisticated account of reading as a social practice central to the circulation of knowledge, both grand and granular, responsive to large questions with local particularities. Networks of Improvement is comprehensive, clearly written, and carefully organized.” * Jonathan Sachs, Concordia University *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Networks and Institutions 1 Power, Knowledge, and Literature 2 The Collision of Mind with Mind: Manchester and Newcastle, 1781–1823 3 Improvement Redux: Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield, 1812–32 Part Two: Bodies and Machines 4 Three Physicians around Manchester 5 Hannah Greg’s Domestic Mission 6 An Inventive Age 7 Lives, Damned Lives, and Statistics Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index
£26.60
Palgrave MacMillan Us The Nitrate King A Biography of Colonel John Thomas North Studies of the Americas
Book SynopsisWilliam Edmundson examines the spectacular life story of 'Colonel' John Thomas North, also known as 'The Nitrate King,' a mechanic in Leeds who became one of the best-known and richest men of his time. Forgotten in Britain and vilified in Chile and Peru, this is the first biography of a controversial but compelling figure.Trade Review'This is a splendid story of a man with great charm, who was an adventurer, buccaneer and speculator and who, in a short and eventful life, rose from a very modest beginning to acquire both fame and fortune This book will make good reading for those interested in a comprehensive story of the nitrate industry'. Viscount Montgomery. Chilean News 'This welcome, well-researched and very readable biography gives a full account of his life and provides a reappraisal of his activities, both in Chile where he made his fortune, and back in Britain where his gifts for self-promotion and his lavish life-style made him a byword This is an enjoyable and full account of Colonel North's life and dealings, academic in detail and soundly researched and referenced, but written in an easy, lively style.' Eveleigh Bradford. The Thoresby Society, Leeds "Well-written . . . and contributes new information about North's life and the relation of that life to the economic development of Chile." - Michael Monteón, Professor of History, University of California, San Diego "A revealing, entertaining, and long-needed biography of one of the nineteenth-century's most flamboyant and controversial international capitalists - 'Colonel' John Thomas North. Edmundson adeptly exploits previously unknown archival materials, the contemporary press, and a vast academic literature on the nitrate industry and Chilean politics to bring the 'Colonel' back to life in all his complexity." - Brian Loveman, Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, San Diego State University "The author's research, conscientiously carried out in English archives, and the collaboration of experts in information and of libraries, not only proves the seriousness of Edmundson's work, but also the tireless idea of unraveling the life and actions of North in Chile and in other countries where he made investments." 'El regresso de John Thomas North,' Diario 21, Iquique, Chile. May 2, 2011 (trans.), Dr. Pedro Bravo-Elizondo (Ret.), Professor of Latin American Literature, Wichita State University. 'Edmundson's lively style, the many illustrations and some entertaining anecdotes make for a good read.' - Journal of Latin American StudiesTable of ContentsPrologue: He would be called quiet We had adventures of all sorts I was better acquainted than any other foreigner Don Juan Tomás North The Nitrate King The Grand Promotion Army Colonel North The sensation of the hour A visit to the Nitrate Kingdom A millionaire stripped bare Epilogue: I have enjoyed myself thoroughly Appendix: The North family tree
£42.74
Columbia University Press The Merchants of Zigong Industrial
Book SynopsisAt the periphery of the Chinese empire, a group of innovative entrepreneurs built companies that dominated the Chinese salt trade and created thousands of jobs in the Sichuan region. This book challenges long-held beliefs that social structure, absence of modern banking, and cultural bias against business precluded industrial development in China.Trade ReviewFocused on a group of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century industrial entrepreneurs in an interior city removed from Western influences, Zelin's masterful study reshapes our understanding of Chinese economic culture. Her powerful account of lineage-based but diverse partnerships raising capital through self-enforcing contracts in the absence of a fully developed legal framework offers a fascinating historical parallel to some of the processes that have shaped China's more recent economic boom. -- Jonathan Ocko, North Carolina State University, author of Bureaucratic Reform in Provincial China A stunning piece of historical scholarship. Professor Zelin's is the first work in Chinese economic history to combine exhaustive research in the local archives of numerous late Qing and Republican enterprises with a sophisticated analysis of all of the legal, technical, political, and sociological aspects of the evolution of the nation's salt-mining industry during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This book simply has to be read by anyone seriously interested in China's modern economic transformation. -- Frederic Wakeman, University of California, Berkeley, author of Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861 This is a model work of business history that everyone in the field should read regardless of his or her country of specialization. It is both deeply researched and theoretically savvy. As a result, Zelin has much to teach us about entrepreneurship, technological innovation, and business practice in China, and she also forces us to reconsider some of our most hallowed beliefs about the importance for economic development of preexisting financial markets and a well-articulated body of commercial law. -- Naomi R. Lamoreaux, University of California, Los Angeles, editor of Learning by Doing in Firms, Markets, and Countries An outstanding contribution to the field. -- Elisabeth Koll Economic History Review A fine-grained study... [The Merchants of Zigong] is a trove of information about business and industry in late traditional China. -- David D. Buck China Review A necessary read for business historians. -- Lane J. Harris Historian One of the best books produced on Chinese economic history. -- Tom Wright Australian Economic History Review [An] important book. -- William T. Rowe Journal of Interdisciplinary History Zelin's insightful analysis demonstrates the potential of classical Chinese merchant culture for generating significant technological and organizational innovation. -- Peter C. Perdue Technology and Culture Both China historians and economic historians have good reason to read this book and to take Chinese economic history seriously. -- R. Bin Wong Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies The Merchants of Zigong is a well-argued and well-documented book on the history of Chinese trade and industry. -- Juanjuan Peng The Sixteenth Century Journal this comprehensive study provides new fascinating insights into the forces and networks that shaped Chinese business and industrial development. -- Thomas Hirzel H-HistGeogTable of ContentsTables, Figures, Maps, and Illustrations Chinese Weights, Measures, and Money Preface 1. Salt Administration and Salt Technology 2. The Structure of Investment in Late Qing Furong 3. Fragmentation as a Business Strategy 4. Organization and Entrepreneurship in Qing Furong 5. The Growth of an Urban Workforce 6. Official Transport and Merchant Sales 7. Technological and Organizational Change, 1894-1930 8. The Changing of the Guard at the Furong Saltyard 9. Politics, Taxes, and Markets: The Fate of Zigong in the Early Twentieth Century 10. Zigong: Industrial City or Handicraft Enclave? Epilogue Notes Glossary of Selected Chinese Names and Terms Bibliography Index
£68.85
Columbia University Press Vernacular Industrialism in China Local
Book SynopsisBy examining the manufacturing, commercial, and cultural activities of the maverick industrialist Chen Diexian (18791940), Eugenia Lean illustrates how lettered men of early-twentieth-century China engaged in vernacular industrialism, the pursuit of industry and science outside of conventional venues.Trade ReviewThoroughly researched and elegantly crafted . . . [this book] sheds fresh light on early twentieth-century China at a time when the nation was just entering global capitalism. * Journal of Chinese History *Lean’s volume is an important contribution to our knowledge of Chinese industry’s progress in the first half of the twentieth century. * Technology and Culture *Vernacular Industrialism in China is an astonishingly rich and original microhistory. In telling the fascinating story of Chen Diexian, Lean challenges us to rethink large swaths of modern Chinese history. An outstanding achievement of wit, erudition, and insight. -- Fa-ti Fan, author of British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural EncounterThis pathbreaking book conclusively demonstrates that the values and habits of classically trained Chinese literati, so scorned by May Fourth modernizers, were fully reconcilable with modern science and technology. Eugenia Lean's “vernacular industrialism” will be a touchstone for all future work on the history of science and technology in China. -- Sigrid Schmalzer, author of Red Revolution, Green Revolution: Scientific Farming in Socialist ChinaEugenia Lean has written an engrossing study of how popular industrialism arose in early twentieth-century China. Chen Diexian emerges from its pages as both representative and remarkable: an amateur scientist and literary celebrity turned serial entrepreneur, consumer products magnate, and do-it-yourself modernist. Through Chen’s career, Vernacular Industrialism in China traces a fascinating history of everyday innovations. -- Christopher Rea, author of The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in ChinaOne of the great pleasures of reading Lean’s study is how she brings together Chen Diexian’s full range of literaryand entrepreneurial achievements for this portrait. She completes it with new analytical approaches to the social history of modern science and small-scale manufacturing in twentieth-century China. * Technology and Culture *This is a highly learned book. Lean reads her sources closely and effectively situates her observations within a deeper Chinese past and across multiple thematic fields. . . [H]er observations shed much new light on the workings of the wider industrial modern world, and her concept of vernacular industrialism will find purchase in contexts far beyond cuttlefish bone–strewn Chinese shores. * Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society *This book, with its focus on light industry and consumer goods, is altogether a welcome addition to the fields of business and economic history of modern China. * East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine *A riveting microhistory with broader historiographical ambitions . . . Lean’s decision to focus on an individual entrepreneur makes this book highly readable for students of modern Chinese history and general readers who are interested in business history, knowledge production, science, and industry. * Business History Review *Lean’s study contributes a deeply researched argument regarding an identifiable social fraction she calls 'vernacular industrialists.' * H-Net Reviews *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Gentlemanly Experimentation in Turn-of-the-Century Hangzhou1. Utility of the UselessPart II: Manufacturing Knowledge, 1914–19272. One Part Cow Fat, Two Parts Soda: Recipes for the Inner Chambers, 1914–19153. An Enterprise of Common Knowledge: Fire Extinguishers, 1916–1935Part III: Manufacturing Objects, 1913–19424. Chinese Cuttlefish and Global Circuits: The Association of Household Industries5. What’s in a Name? From Studio Appellation to Commercial Trademark6. Compiling the Industrial Modern, 1930–1941ConclusionGlossaryNotesReferencesIndex
£44.00
Columbia University Press Who We Are Is Where We Are
Book Synopsis
£111.15
University of Illinois Press Building the Black Metropolis African American
Book SynopsisTrade Review“A major contribution on the Black Metropolis as a black business movement, a black public sphere, and visions of freedom in the city.”--Quincy T. Mills, author of Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America"Weems (Wichita State) and Chambers (Univ. of Illinois) provide a detailed look into the forces and people who shaped Chicago's black business and metropolis since the 1800s. . . . Recommended."--Choice"Building the Black Metropolis is an insightful and informative book that will appeal to a wide general audience, and hopefully all who read it will be inspired to continue to support African American entrepreneurs and their ongoing business ventures throughout the country." --Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society"Building the Black Metropolis is a solid collection. Taken as a whole, these essays reveal how racial segregation has created inequality, generation after generation--and the limits of racial solidarity to overcome it." --Journal of American History"A work that examines history in its own skin. At a time when scholarship is praising immigrant entrepreneurship in America, it is great to see a book that says, 'Black America has been there, done that, and got the T-Shirt.' A work that should bind the past with the future because it recreates a model of business success that holds the key to the future. An American Story well done."--John Sibley Butler, author of Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans: A Reconsideration of Race and Economics
£77.35
