Industrialisation and industrial history Books

Book SynopsisJan Breman takes dispossession as his central theme in this ambitious analysis of labour bondage in India''s changing political economy from 1962 to 2017. When, in a remote past, tribal and low-caste communities were attached to landowning households, their lack of freedom was framed as subsistence-oriented dependency. Breman argues that with colonial rule came the intrusion of capitalism into India''s agrarian economy, leading to a decline in the idea of patronage in the relationship between bonded labour and landowner. Instead, servitude was reshaped as indebtedness. As labour became transformed into a commodity, peasant workers were increasingly pushed out of agriculture and the village but remained adrift in the wider economy. This footloose workforce is subjected to exploitation when their labour power is required and is left in a state of exclusion when it is surplus to demand. The outcome is progressive inequality that is thoroughly capitalist in nature.Trade Review'From Jan Breman's lifetime of research with labour in Gujarat have come original concepts of patronage and exploitation, circular migration, footloose labour, neo-bondage, exclusion and expulsion from social rights and habitat - all now essential to our understanding of India's labour-force. In this tour-de-force, Breman synthesises the history of coercive debt, bondage and servitude, tracing its persistence from colonial roots to the present where tied and contingent labour underpins capitalism with Indian characteristics. Shabash.' Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford'A masterful summing up of the six decades-long research of Jan Breman in and on India. The deep changes in the mode and manner of social exploitation and the failed promises of a sovereign state have been pursued by the author with a relentless critique of India's capitalist path while retaining a deep empathy for the labouring poor.' K. P. Kannan, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum'In sum, this book makes some valuable points about the capitalist nature of progressive inequality.' A. A. Batabyal, Choice'… Jan Breman's work will certainly stand the test of time not only as evidence to the sufferings and fights of the dispossessed laboring, but also as an exercise in academic excellence, fueled by empathy that ultimately generated profound and intricate scholarly insights.' Nikolay Kamenov, H-Soz-KultTable of ContentsPart I. Labour as Codified in Annals of the State: 1. The country liberated; 2. An end to servitude?; Part II. Constrained in Decrepitude: 3. The commodification of agricultural labour; 4. The class struggle launched and suppressed; 5. The Gandhian road to inclusion; Part III. The Political Economy of Boundless Dispossession: 6. The Agrarian Question posed as the social question; 7. Labour migration: going off and coming back; 8. Indebtedness as labour attachment; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. Capitalism, labour bondage and the social question.

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Book SynopsisNOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad - the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other labourers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks. The US government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomotives, rails and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West, or lugged across the country to the Plains. In Ambrose''s hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle and sweat, comes vibrantly to life.

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Book SynopsisIn July 1888, fourteen hundred women and girls employed by the matchmakers Bryant and May walked out of their East End factory and into the history books. Louise Raw gives us a challenging new interpretation of events proving that the women themselves, not celebrity socialists like Annie Besant, began it. She provides unequivocal evidence to show that the matchwomen greatly influenced the Dock Strike of 1889, which until now was thought to be the key event of new unionism, and repositions them as the mothers of the modern labour movement. Returning to the stories of the women themselves, and byinterviewingtheir relatives today, Raw is able to construct a new history which challenges existing accounts of the strike itself and radically alters the accepted history of the labour movement in Britain.Trade Review"'In a careful reconstruction of events, Raw exposes inaccuracies in the standard accounts... [she] tells a great story with a terrific cast of characters... parts of the book read like a detective story, with Raw ingenious in tracking down the strike leaders.'-Times Higher Education"Table of ContentsIntroduction, Methodology and Previous Literature; 1. Angels in the House and Factory Girls; 2. Haunted by the Woman Question: the Victorian Labour Movement and Women Workers; 3. Life, Work and Politics in the Victorian East End; 4. Liberals and Lucifers: Bryant & May and Matchmaking; 5. The 'Notorious' Annie Besant: the Strike Leaders Reconsidered; 6. 'One Girl Began': the Strike and the Matchwomen; 7. The Matchwomen, the Great Dock Strike and New Unionism; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisFrom small engines for driving machinery to the massive beam horizontal engines that kept tunnels dry and our cities clean, stationary engines are impressive relics of our industrial past. This is their story.

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Book SynopsisThis volume in the Perspectives in American Social History series reveals the long reach of the Industrial Revolution into the work lives and self-perceptions of average Americans.Industrial Revolution: People and Perspectives offers a well-informed look at the impact of new labor practices in the 1800s. It analyzes this pivotal moment in the broader context of the nation’s economic development, measuring its consequences for Americans as both workers and consumers in all regions of the country.Industrial Revolution examines what industrialization meant for American artisans, women workers, slaves, and manufacturers. It shows how this new working world led to sharpening class divisions and expanded consumerism. Throughout, groundbreaking social historians draw on 19th-century primary documents and the latest research to show how the Industrial Revolution transformed the life the average American. Primary documents including Alexander Hamilton’s "Report on Manufactures," poetry from the labor newspaper, The Voice of Industry, and William Gregg’s “Practical Results of Southern Manufactures” A chronology highlighting key developments in the Industrial Revolution, including the invention of the cotton gin, the steamship, the telegraph, and the sewing machine Trade Review"While certainly useful to scholars, this is a work for a general audience that would be a worthwhile addition to high school and university libraries." - ARBA"Goloboy’s volume incorporates biographies in the chapters that cover the individual’s lifetime, whereas Wyatt offers more detailed biographies in a separate section. Both books detail the lifestyle changes that characterized the era and offer numerous viewpoints on it. They are worthy general purchases depending on need. While Goloboy focuses on the Industrial Revolution in the United States, Wyatt also looks at the period prior to it and addresses global ramifications." Reviewed with The Industrial Revolution by Lee Wyatt. - School Library Journal"Serious effort was made to match the coverage of these volumes to high school curriculum standards. This set is perfect historical analysis beyond the textbook. Each volume is carefully researched and documented. The thoughtful essays, presenting content unavailable in other sources, are ripe for analysis by upper level students. Our AP US History teacher was thrilled to see them! Books contain black and white illustrations. Brief biographies are scattered through the text. Highly recommended.' Reviewed Together Cheathem, Mark R., ed. Jacksonian and Antebellum Age: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. 978-1-59884-017-9. 234p. $85.00. Gr. 10+. Goloboy, Jennifer L., ed. Industrial Revolution: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2008. 978-1-59884-065-0. 315p. $85.00. Gr. 10+. Frank, Andrew K., ed. Early Republic: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2009. 978-1-59884-019-3. 300p. $85.00. Gr. 10+. Grigg, John A., ed. British Colonial America: People and Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2008. 978-1-59884-025-4. 276p. $85.00. Gr. 10+." - Pennsylvania School Librarians Association

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Book SynopsisJames Watt (1736-1819) was a pivotal figure of the Industrial Revolution. His career as a scientific instrument maker, inventor and engineer was developed in Scotland, his land of birth. His subsequent national and international significance as a scientist, technologist and businessman was formed in the Birmingham area. There, his partnership with Matthew Boulton and the intellectual and personal support of other members of the Lunar Society network, such as Erasmus Darwin, James Keir, William Small and Josiah Wedgwood, enabled him to translate his improvements in steam technology into efficient machines. His pumping and rotative steam engines represent a summit of technological achievement in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. This is the traditional picture of James Watt. After his death, his surviving son, James Watt junior projected his father’s image through commissioning sculptures, medals, paintings and biographies which celebrated his reputation as a ‘great man’ of the Industrial Revolution. In popular historical understanding Watt has also become a hero of modernity, but the context in which he operated and the roles of others in shaping his ideas have been downplayed. This book explores new aspects of his work and evaluates him in his locational, family, social and intellectual contexts.Trade ReviewReviews 'High quality chapters, convincingly argued and clearly written, offering new insights into Watt's life and work.’Professor Christine MacLeod, University of Bristol‘Two pivotal chapters demonstrate the close and strategic attention that Watt paid to his extensive correspondence.’ Christine MacLeod, Midland History 'Distinguished investigators and newer researchers together illustrate the state of the field concerning James Watt. Interesting and definitive… this book [is] indispensable for buff and researcher alike.'Barbara Hahn, English Historical Review'This book [is] indispensable for buff and researcher alike.' Barbara Hahn, English Historical Review

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Book SynopsisIn 1864 Abraham Lincoln appointed Elihu Burritt as United States consul in Birmingham. Burritt captured the very nature of the Black Country's unique industrial landscape with his now famous phrase black by day and red by night', referring to the smoking chimney stacks turning the sky black with smoke by day to be followed by the red glow from iron furnaces at night.The Black Country has seen many innovations. Thomas Newcomen came in 1712 to install his first ground-breaking atmospheric steam engine in the shadow of Dudley Castle. James Watt followed later when he installed a steam engine at the Bilston iron works of John Iron Mad' Wilkinson, father of the iron industry. Bradley, Foster and Rastrick built the Stourbridge Lion' the first railway locomotive in America, Aaron Manby of the Horseley Iron Works built the first iron ship to go to sea in 1822 and Chance Brothers, in 1851, supplied the glass for Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace, centre piece of the Great Exhibition. There are many more.The Making of the Black Country: a Unique Industrial Landscape brings all industries together, concentrating on the 19th century when the Black Country really was black by day and red by night.

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark study of American labor history, Meredith Tax charts the actions of women in working-class, feminist, and socialist movements between 1880 and 1917 in the USA. Caught between the hostility of male trade unionists, the chauvinism of male socialist organizers, and the assumptions of middle-class feminists, women workers forged their own demands for economic and political justice in the industrializing landscape of North America. In doing so, Tax argues, a unique form of socialist-feminist class consciousness was created, whose remarkable history is chronicled in this work.With a focus on the histories of the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Tax shows how working-class socialist women navigated the terrain between the seemingly oppositional demands for suffrage and labour rights. The Rising of the Women also contains detailed case studies of two germinal moments in American labour history: the uprising of shirtwaist workers in New York City in 1909 - 1910, the real beginning of the International Ladies' Garment Worker Union; and the 1912 IWW strike of immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., making it an essential text for students of American labor history as well as readers interested in twentieth-century feminism.First published in 1980, the book is reissued by Verso as part of the highly successful Feminist Classics series, where it takes its place alongside texts by Sheila Rowbotham, Kathi Weeks, Stella Dadzie, Lynne Segal and more. The result of years of archival research, Tax blends original source material from the participants of the movements with her own sharp analysis into a rich narrative of women workers' struggle. The Rising of the Women is a classic of feminist labor history whose time has come to find the wide audience it deserves.Trade ReviewTax provides an encyclopedic denouement that deconstructs the political and social factors that caused this backlash and explores the rifts that developed between workers as the attacks unfolded. To wit, she highlights the redbaiting that was stoked by male unionists who refused to recognize the invaluable strike support provided by women in the Socialist Party.exciting and moving. * The Indypendent *The Rising of the Women is both a nuanced historical account and a useful guide for organizers. Its comparative approach, which explores case studies from a range of times and places, documents a suggestive pattern in American labor history: The past successes that Tax examines all relied on the active role of a women's movement, which deepened the strength of the political coalition and ensured that the interests of women and other marginalized workers were fully included. Tax's work offers evidence - from history, not theory - that an autonomous women's movement is not only compatible with class struggle but critical to its success. -- Avi Steinberg * Jewish Currents *Life in 2022 remains a sometimes overwhelmingly bleak struggle, and so we read books like The Rising of the Women to propel our activist journey-shoulder to shoulder, hearts open, fists high! -- Blanche Wiesen Cook * LIBER *At a time when movements for social justice have all too often become just another vehicle to irrelevance in the electoral realm and the Left is a divided shadow of what it was a couple decades ago, This reprinting of The Rising of the Women is both necessary and timely. In telling this story of the struggle for working women's rights, the author reminds us of what is possible while also reminding us that seemingly insurmountable differences among those fighting for social justice should not be an excuse not to seek common ground and get on with the struggle. [An] outstanding history. -- Ron Jacobs * Counterpunch *

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Book SynopsisIn this concise illustrated guide, Stan Yorke tells the story of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, simplifying an otherwise complicated subject with his easy-to-follow writing style. Illustrations, photography and detailed line drawings by Trevor Yorke bring the subject vividly to life. At its core, this is the story of how machines changed the face of industry and farming in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. What kick-started the Industrial Revolution? How did the machines actually work? How does this period of seismic change continue to influence our lives today? All these questions and more are covered here. The book is split into four sections. Section I looks at the historical background to the revolution, showing that it was a steady accumulation of knowledge and skills, rather than a sudden step-change, that characterised this period. Section II looks in detail at the four major industrial areas that are well represented in our museums, explaining how the basic machines work and how the processes were developed. Take a peek at the inner workings of the steam engine, weaving loom and many more. Section III looks at the supporting cast that enabled this vast expansion: factories, buildings, agriculture, canals and railways for example. Section IV provides recommendations for further exploration of the subject (including the best museums to visit), along with a list of notable inventions, surprising statistics and a glossary of terms The Industrial Revolution Explained is the perfect introduction for anyone who wants to find out more about the technology that drove this incredible period of invention and expansion in British history.Table of ContentsCONTENTS INTRODUCTION A BRIEF HISTORY Chapter 1: SETTING THE SCENE Chapter 2: SCIENCE REPLACES DOGMA Chapter 3: WHEELS FROM THE PAST Chapter 4: MATERIALS OF OUR DREAMS Chapter 5: POWER OF A THOUSAND HORSES Chapter 6: CLOTH FOR ALL Chapter 7: AGRICULTURE Chapter 8: COAL Chapter 9: CANALS & RAILWAYS Chapter 10 FACTORIES Chapter 11 BUILDINGS MUSEUMS & SITES TO VISIT STATISTICS NOTABLE INVENTIONS & EVENTS GLOSSARY INDEX

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Book SynopsisThe Kahans from Baku is the saga of a Russian Jewish family. Their story provides an insight into the history of Jews in the Imperial Russian economy, especially in the oil industry. The entrepreneur and family patriarch, Chaim Kahan, was a pious and enlightened man and a Zionist. His children followed in his footsteps in business as well as in politics, philanthropy, and love of books. The book takes us through their forced migration in times of war, revolution, and the twentieth century’s totalitarian regimes, telling the story of fortune and misfortune of one cohesive family over four generations through Russia, Germany, Denmark, and France, and finally on to Palestine and the United States of America.Trade Review“Verena Dohrn’s book presents a complex transnational story of Jewish oil merchants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, contributing to the growing scope of research on Jewish family businesses in East and Central Europe. … This book will be an interesting read for a broad audience, providing an intimate insight into the private life of oil magnates in turbulent historical times. It may also introduce a new perspective on Jewish business elites to academic readers. The Kahan story transcends the stereotypical divisions between East and West, showing the example of the well-managed business family corporation, which managed to integrate into a few imperial and national contexts of different countries and adapt to the new situations while preserving their complex cultural integrity.”— Vladyslava Moskalets, Business History“Jewish entrepreneurs played a major role in economic development in late Imperial Russia, and the oil barons of the Kahan family were among the most important. And the least studied—until 2018, when Verena Dohrn published her pioneering monograph in German, now being made available in English translation. The research is massive: the book uses family archives (with thousands of documents) as well as state repositories in fourteen countries, complemented by oral history and the contemporary press. All this allows Dohrn to provide a detailed narrative that explains how the family was able to thrive before the 1917 revolution and then to survive after its emigration to the West. Not only specialists but general readers will discover a rich narrative of this family’s everyday life and successful business activities.”—Gregory L. Freeze, Raymond Ginger Professor of History, Brandeis University“This fascinating family history takes the reader across countries and continents during the turbulent period of European wars and revolutions, from a small Belarusian shtetl to Baku, Moscow, Petrograd, Berlin, and then on to Tel Aviv and New York. The Kahans were successful entrepreneurs, generous philanthropists and cultural activists who left their mark on modern Jewish life and culture. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written by Verena Dohrn, a prominent German historian of Russian Jewry, this study is not only an important contribution to Jewish history and transnational diaspora studies, but also a captivating reading in its own right."—Mikhail Krutikov, University of MichiganTable of ContentsTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsPreface — Jonah Gavrieli In Memoriam Eli Rosenberg — Noa RosenbergTranslator’s Foreword — Uri Themal 1. Jacob Kahan: Imprisoned. Berlin2. Chaim Kahan. From Orlya to Brest-Litovsk3. Life under War Conditions. Berlin4. On the Move. Vilna, Warsaw, Kharkov, Saratov... 5. Citizenship and the World of Education—Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Marburg, Antwerp6. To Baku7. Zina and the Oilfields. Baku8. Aron and the Black Gold. Baku9. Summer Resorts during the War. Bad Harzburg, Bad Neuenahr, Bad Polzin10. Economic Management in Times of War and Revolution. Petrograd11. Across the Front Line—Berlin, Warsaw, Baku, Moscow, Vilna, Kharkov, Kiev12. Expulsion from Russia. Baku, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, Moscow13. Fresh Start in the West: Caucasian Oil Company. Copenhagen, Berlin, London, Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven14. Family in Exile. Berlin15. Nitag. Berlin16. Devotion to Books. Petrograd, Vilna, Berlin17. 36 Schlüterstrasse. Expulsion from Paradise. Berlin18. The Mavericks between the Wars—European Corporate Networks: Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, London, Riga, Paris, Amsterdam19. The Third Expulsion. Paris, Lisbon20. Eretz Israel. Tel Aviv21. Sanctuaries. The Family Is Alive. New York, Tel Aviv, Ma’agan MichaelIllustrationsNotes

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Book SynopsisScottish Arctic Whaling brings to light a previously little-known but important Scottish industry. The author's extensive use of original sources such as log-books and diaries shows that hundreds of whaling vessels, sailing variously from sixteen east-coast Scottish ports, harvested more than 20,000 bowhead whales at East Greenland, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And they did so under almost unimaginably demanding and hazardous conditions. More than 110 ships were lost, while others were often detained within the pack-ice, causing the whale men to suffer starvation, disease, scurvy, frostbite and death. In 1836 alone, more than 100 whalers on the Advice and Thomas, Dundee, and Dee of Aberdeen perished when they became entrapped at Davis Strait. Nevertheless, by the second half of the nineteenth century, through hard work, skill and perseverance, Scotland had a virtual monopoly on Arctic oil and bone, until seriously depleted stocks and the outbreak of the First World War brought the industry to a close.

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Book SynopsisHow prisons became economic development strategies for rural Appalachian communitiesAs the United States began the project of mass incarceration, rural communities turned to building prisons as a strategy for economic development. More than 350 prisons have been built in the U.S. since 1980, with certain regions of the country accounting for large shares of this dramatic growth. Central Appalachia is one such region; there are eight prisons alone in Eastern Kentucky. If Kentucky were its own country, it would have the seventh highest incarceration rate in the world. In Coal, Cages, Crisis, Judah Schept takes a closer look at this stunning phenomenon, providing insight into prison growth, jail expansion and rising incarceration rates in America's hinterlands. Drawing on interviews, site visits, and archival research, Schept traces recent prison growth in the region to the rapid decline of its coal industry. He takes us inside this startling transformation ocTrade Review"Against the many reductionist, exploitative, and degrading accounts of Appalachia, this book reveals how important it is to understand the region’s drive toward prisons and jails as part of a larger history, geography, and narrative of continuous extraction and structural crisis, one that was never inevitable but socially reproduced through carceral investments. Coal, Cages, Crisis is essential reading in this moment of reckoning, proving our analyses of racial capital in the rural hinterlands is foundational to struggles in the movement against prisons everywhere. " -- Michelle Brown, co-author of Criminology Goes to the Movies: Crime Theory and Popular Culture"Through the churn of extraction and profiteering, disposal and human sacrifice, the mountains of Appalachia have become a kind of national sacrifice zone, home to coal mines, garbage dumps, and cages. Judah Schept’s brilliant book nests rigorously local Appalachian history within the global system of racial capitalism that is devouring the planet. As jails and prisons proliferate across the coalfields, Schept tells us what was there before so we will remember to ask that crucial abolitionist question—what might be there instead?" -- Naomi Murakawa, author of The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America"Judah Schept sketches a fascinating topography of class war and the carceral state in Appalachia. He boldly shifts focus from the criminal policies and physical prisons of the region to the infrastructures of extraction and disposal that have facilitated mass incarceration. This imaginative interdisciplinary study will be a critical resource for scholars and organizers as well as for pundits trying to make sense of Appalachia’s now mythologized ‘white working class.’" -- Christina Heatherton, co-editor of Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter"Coal, Cages, Crisis is a model of carceral geography that combines investigative journalism, unabashed activism, and multi-layered analysis. Jill Frank’s stark photography illuminates a bleak landscape, while Schept excavates its buried past." -- Tony Platt, author of Beyond These Walls: Rethinking Crime and Punishment in the United States"The primary insight guiding Coal, Cages, and Crisis is that the carceral facility is part of an ensemble of social relations extending far beyond its walls, in networks of local, state, and federal punishment, the global landscape of commodity exchange, and even the unique historical moment in which it exists. As Schept deftly demonstrates, the site selection, construction, staffing, filling, and subsequent management of prisons and jails is not simply the narrow domain of the misnamed ‘justice system,’ reflecting its needs, nor are prisons and punishment regimes simply deployed in response to changing levels of ‘crime,’ as conservative criminologists argue. Instead, understanding why prisons are built, and filled, requires a close look at local patterns of employment, relations of private property, histories of structural racism, and the political and cultural arenas in which regimes of prison construction and ‘tough on crime’ policies alike are fought out … Time and again, Coal, Cages, Crisis strives to communicate that mass incarceration is not natural or inevitable, and depicts plenty of locals who prove that another way of life is not only possible, but in demand." * The Brooklyn Rail *"Drawing on interviews, site visits, and archival research, Schept links prison growth to other sites in the Central Appalachian landscape—coal mines, coal waste, landfills, and incinerators. He concludes that the prison boom has less to do with crime and punishment and much more with the overall extraction, depletion, and waste disposal processes that characterize dominant development strategies for the region." * Law and Social Inquiry *"Through this interdisciplinary study of the rural prison boom, Schept provides an invaluable state of the field in carceral and Appalachian studies, using the lens of racial capitalism to interpret the region’s complex identity. He also gives an innovative model for the use of blended oral and archival historical methods to study deep historical processes that manifest in the recent past." * The Journal of Southern History *"Prisons have proven to be unsafe and costly to operate and, as a result, many in this region have been closing at a rapid rate.…Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." -- E. Smith, University of Delaware * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisThis book is a study of workers activism and labour unions in the eight years between the recognition of Indonesian sovereignty by the Netherlands at the end of December 1949 and the nationalisation of Dutch assets in December 1957. It contributes to a re-evaluation of the era of liberal parliamentary democracy in Indonesia. The focus is on the agency of workers and the structures, strategies and industrial campaigns of unions in the context of intense ideological conflict, competing union federations, the opposition of employers to collective action and the efforts by the Indonesian state to manage industrial conflict. The imposition of martial law in March 1957 was the deathblow to parliamentary democracy and to the freedom of workers and unions to engage in collective action. It was not until Suharto's 'New Order' regime collapsed in 1998 that Indonesian workers regained the freedom of association and the right to engage incollective action.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Book SynopsisIron was the catalyst of the Industrial Revolution - the material of Ironbridge, the Crystal Palace, railways, steam engines ships. But what made it so important and why did Britain become the major producer of iron in the world? The iron industry sucked in a mass of skilled and unskilled labour, and transformed rural landscapes with mines, railways, and new villages and towns.Without iron there would have been no Industrial Revolution and few parts of Britain from the Highlands of Scotland to Cornwall have not been touched by the iron industry. Richard Hayman concentrates on the period when coal replaced charcoal as the industry''s fuel source, discussing the changing technology, geography and economy of the industry as well as its social history. From those heady days at Coalbrookdale on the banks of the Severn to the decline of a once-mighty industry, he tells the story of iron and its place in British history.

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Book SynopsisMany of London’s Victorian buildings are built of coarse-textured yellow bricks. These are ‘London stocks’, produced in very large quantities all through the nineteenth century and notable for their ability to withstand the airborne pollutants of the Victorian city. Whether visible or, as is sometimes the case, hidden behind stonework or underground, they form a major part of the fabric of the capital. Until now, little has been written about how and where they were made and the people who made them. Peter Hounsell has written a detailed history of the industry which supplied these bricks to the London market, offering a fresh perspective on the social and economic history of the city. In it he reveals the workings of a complex network of finance and labour. From landowners who saw an opportunity to profit from the clay on their land, to entrepreneurs who sought to build a business as brick manufacturers, to those who actually made the bricks, the book considers the process in detail, placing it in the context of the supply-and-demand factors that affected the numbers of bricks produced and the costs involved in equipping and running a brickworks. Transport from the brickfields to the market was crucial and Dr Hounsell conducts a full survey of the different routes by which bricks were delivered to building sites - by road, by Thames barge or canal boat, and in the second half of the century by the new railways. The companies that made the bricks employed many thousands of men, women and children and their working lives, homes and culture are looked at here, as well as the journey towards better working conditions and wages. The decline of the handmade yellow stock was eventually brought about by the arrival of the machine-made Fletton brick that competed directly with it on price. Brickmaking in the vicinity of London finally disappeared after the Second World War. Although its demise has left little evidence in the landscape, this industry influenced the development of many parts of London and the home counties, and this book provides a valuable record of it in its heyday.Table of ContentsIntroduction PART 1 Brickfields Chapter 1: A brick-built city: London brickmaking at the beginning of the nineteenth century Chapter 2: From clay pit to clamp: manufacturing the London stock brick Chapter 3: Finding the clay: landowners, brickmakers and the availability of land Chapter 4: ‘A rage for building’: demand for bricks in Victorian London and how it was met Chapter 5: Brickfields in town and country PART 2 Brickmakers Chapter 6: Builders, brickmakers and speculators: brickmaking businesses and their owners Chapter 7: Land, machinery and labour: operating and financing the brickfield Chapter 8: The market for bricks: brickmakers, builders’ merchants and customers Chapter 9: From brickfield to building site: delivering the brick by road, rail and water PART 3 Brickies Chapter 10: ‘Hard and inappropriate labour’: the brickies at work Chapter 11: ‘The perfection of untidiness, dirt and disease’: the brickies at home Chapter 12: ‘Habits of intemperance’: the brickies and the beershop Chapter 13: ‘Profane workmen’: the brickies at prayer Chapter 14: Pug boys and barrow loaders: the children of the brickfields Chapter 15: ‘The great struggle’: industrial disputes and trade unions in the brick industry PART 4 An industry in decline Chapter 16: ‘The chief market is London’: the challenge of the Fletton brick Chapter 17: Into the new century: stock brickmaking after 1900

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Book SynopsisThis book, originally published in 1901, provides an introduction to the industrial and social history of England from prehistoric times to the early nineteenth century. Topics discussed include: the organization or rural life and town life; medieval trade and commerce; the Black Death and the Peasants Rebellion; the end of the medieval system; the expansion of England; the Industrial Revolution; the extension of government control; and the extension of voluntary associations, trade unions, and trusts.

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Book SynopsisBorn just as the British Empire was taking its last breaths, Martin Adeney was part of the 'twilight generation' caught between the imperial and postimperial ages, forced to navigate the insecurities - political, economic and cultural - faced by the British as we struggled to understand and adapt to our diminished place in the world order.A compelling blend of memoir and narrative history, Baggage of Empire leads us through the crumbling ruins of great industries and imperial trade cities; from the retreat of the northern newspaper empires to an almost exclusively southern, metropolitan viewpoint; through the tumultuous dominance and decline of the trade unions; to the rise of Thatcherism and big business.From the unique vantage point his career as a journalist has given him, particularly as industrial editor of BBC TV, Adeney notes that many of the issues that preoccupied us in the late '60s and early '70s - including immigration, housing, education, industry and communications - remain the daily currency of our political discourse. Despite all of our material prosperity and cultural self-confidence, we are all burdened, in one way or another, by the baggage of empire.Trade Review"Martin Adeney has been a fine industrial journalist more or less over my whole working life. Here he writes vividly of his contact with contemporary leaders in politics, business and trade unions who, in various ways, battled against Britain's decline as a great manufacturing nation. It is an entertaining elegy for a world that has largely disappeared along with the British Empire itself." - Lord (John) Monks, former General Secretary of the TUC and the ETUC; "Martin Adeney's memoir is a very well-observed account of the decline of three 'empires' that have defined his life. He writes with clarity and wit about the great events of the second half of the twentieth century, during which he met many notable figures, especially politicians and trade union barons, and his portraits of these people, based on his personal experience of them, are always acute and funny." - Professor Lawrence Goldman, Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London

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Book SynopsisThe extent and irreversibility of US decline is becoming ever more obvious as America loses war after war and as one industry after another loses its technological edge. Lachmann explains why the United States will not be able to sustain its global dominance. He contrasts America's relatively brief period of hegemony with the Netherlands' similarly short primacy and Britain's far longer era of leadership.Decline in all those cases was not inevitable and did not respond to global capitalist cycles. Rather, decline is the product of elites' success in grabbing control of resources and governmental powers. Not only are ordinary people harmed, but also capitalists become increasingly unable to coordinate their interests and adopt policies and make investments necessary to counter economic and geopolitical competitors elsewhere in the world.Conflicts among elites and challenges by non-elites determine the timing and mould the contours of decline. Lachmann traces the transformation of US politics from an era of elite consensus to present-day paralysis combined with neoliberal plunder, explains the paradox of an American military with an unprecedented technological edge unable to subdue even the weakest enemies, and the consequences of finance's cannibalisation of the US economy.Trade ReviewPraise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Received 2003 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award (i.e. best book of the year) of the American Sociological Association. * American Sociological Association *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):The volume is an exemplar of comparative analysis. Lachmann's work is an excellent recent treatment of the transition to capitalism. -- Rebecca Emigh * American Journal of Sociology *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Lachmann's analysis of historical economic change is astute and pathbreaking. Empirically, this is comparative historical sociology at its best. An important book that is essential reading for those interested in understanding social change. -- Rosemary Hopcroft * Contemporary Sociology *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Capitalists in Spite of Themselves synthesizes and extends elite theory and Marxian class analysis in a remarkably inventive way. Capitalists in Spite of Themselves is historically rich, theoretically rigorous and architecturally elegant. -- Julia Adams * Trajectories *Praise for Capitalists In Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford, 2000):Capitalists in Spite of Themselves is a major tour de force, which will lead scholars to think very differently than they have until now about the making of modern Europe. -- Samuel Clark * Trajectories *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):This is an excellent book. It is all the more remarkable because in spite of its relative brevity (little more than 200 pp. of text) it addresses its theme in a manner characterized among other things by its scope. Lachmann's substantial and original book is also characterized by an exacting methodological approach. -- Gianfranco Poggi * Sociologica *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):States and Power provides a wonderful starting point for someone seeking to understand the development of states and political power. An entertaining and informative read. * Contemporary Sociology *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):Richard Lachmann provides the reader with a comprehensive sociological analysis of state formation from antiquity to modernity. This text is an excellent read and would certainly be of interest to individuals studying power, state formation, political sociology and nationalism. -- James Baker * Nations and Nationalism *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):A mini-classic, indispensible for those who are interested in the history and future of the nation-state and the international system. Essential. * Choice *Praise for States and Power (Polity 2010):In this highly readable and informative book, Richard Lachmann provides a wide-ranging survey over 500 years of state formation and transformation. He covers many epochs and five continents, addresses many theorists and numerous forms of state and regime, and explores multiple aspects of state capacities from war-making and taxation through public works and social benefits to changing forms of political legitimacy. Beginning with the distant origins of states, States and Power ends with informed speculation on the likely future of states and the state system. In short, this is an excellent introduction to a complex topic in historical sociology. -- Bob Jessop, Lancaster UniversityPraise for States and Power (Polity 2010):This book is concise, marvelously erudite and clearly written. Lachmann succeeds in presenting both the diverse theoretical constructs regarding state power and the analytically organized historical narratives which flesh out his own synthetic understanding of state power. To the best of my knowledge, Lachmann's achievement has no peer - States and Power has all the elements of an intellectual bestseller. -- Georgi Derluguian, Northwestern UniversityPraise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):Petitions for a sociology that takes social change as its central object. * Revue française de science politique *Praise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):Richard Lachmann's excellent, readable short survey of historical sociology gets to the heart of the enterprise: understanding the ongoing transformations that have created the world in which we live. Lachmann provides incisive reviews of the major fields of research to which historical sociologists have contributed. The book will be a very useful text for those who would bring the concerns and approaches of historical sociology to the larger discipline - who want to historicize sociology in order to render it more vital and more grounded. -- Ann Shola Orloff, Northwestern UniversityPraise for What Is Historical Sociology? (Polity, 2013):One of the major contributors to the 'historical turn' in late twentieth-century social sciences guides us through a fascinating journey in a discipline. By examining exemplary works in different sociological domains, Lachmann skillfully sketches the varied concerns of historical sociology. Written in a readable and engaging style, What is Historical Sociology? is a must read, and not just for those interested in (historical) sociology. -- Roberto Franzosi, Emory University'Hegemonic decline,' to borrow a phrase from one of Trump's ancestors, makes one want to release the safety catch on one's Browning. A petrified debate whose time had come and gone.... or so I believed until I opened Lachmann. This is a highly original synthesis that blends world systems theory and comparative history with an astute analysis of contemporary US politics to draw powerful and uncomfortable conclusions. -- Mike DavisIn this historically deep and richly cross-national study of empires and hegemons, Richard Lachmann brings forth new information and a highly original analysis to cast a bright light on the United States and its likely future. Whether social scientists and historians are inclined to agree with him or not, they will have to deal with the fact that his analysis shows that all of them are at least partially wrong about empires and hegemons in one way or another. -- G. William Domhoff, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor, University of California, Santa CruzWorking on a strikingly broad comparative canvass Lachmann bridges two genres that are usually widely separate: serious comparative historical sociology, and public engagement. His book asks "what is the connection between the structure of elite relations and the durability of hegemony, understood as a form of power in which the leadership of the dominant group is 'perceived by subordinate groups as serving a more general interest'?" Hegemons, unlike simple empires, set the global rules of the game. Their power "thus...extends beyond their formal and informal territorial possessions to encompass the entire world". Lachmann's answer to this question is that hegemony is possible where there exist plural elites combined with a low level of elite conflict. Where, in contrast, elites are singular (as in the Nazi or Napoleonic empires) or where there is a high level of conflict (as in the Absolutist cases), hegemony is impossible. In the first sort of case elites simply dominate the lands that they conquer in order to extract resources without gaining any local allies. In the second case elites entrench their own interests at the expense of the general interest; they thus become "autarkic" and their own interests split apart from the general interest. This brilliant book, written in the venerable tradition of C. Wright Mills, will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and to the educated public at large. Lachmann shows that comparative and historical sociology is alive and kicking. Bravo! -- Dylan RileyThis is a powerful, often brilliant, comparative account of the rise and especially the decline of hegemonic powers, focusing most on the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States. Emphasis is placed on the way in which competing elites within the hegemon pursue their own narrow interests to block effective coping with decline. Particularly sobering and convincing is the bleak outlook presented for the future of the United States. -- Michael Mann, Author of The Sources of Social Power, Distinguisher Research Professor, UCLAOne of the most important developments in recent times is the American elites' loss of influence in global affairs, concurrent with its consolidation of power at home. In this brilliant, sweeping analysis, Richard Lachmann connects the dots and explains how the two processes are related. Placing the United States in the context of its imperial predecessors, he helps us understand America's place in the rogues' gallery of global powers. And most importantly, he helps us see that the American oligarchs will be perfectly happy to see the rest of the nation sink, if that's what it takes to hold on to their dwindling possessions. A work of great depth and moral clarity, it deserves the widest possible audience -- Vivek ChibberThis provocative and sobering indictment often hits its targets. * Publishers Weekly *Masterful...Lachmann shows us that, far from being unique to the period of British denouement, the destructive pursuit of such narrow self-interest by elites has repeatedly caused the decline of great powers throughout historical capitalism. * Journal of World-Systems Research *

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Book SynopsisThe arrival of telegraphy and railroads changed power relations throughout the world in the nineteenth century. In the Mesilla region of the American Southwest, it contributed to two distinct and rapid shifts in political and economic power from the 1850s to the 1920s. Torsten Kathke illustrates how the changes these technologies wrought everywhere could be seen at a much accelerated pace here. A local Hispano elite was replaced first by a Hispano-Anglo one, and finally a nationally oriented Anglo elite. As various groups tried to gain, hold, and defend power, the region became bound ever closer to the US economy and to the federal government.Trade Review"A reader looking for a cultural study of the Mesilla will be greatly rewarded by Kathkes effort." -- Bryant Macfarlane, https://networks.h-net.org, 11 (2020)"Kathkes focus on issues of cultural amalgamation, law, and government action in the Mesilla makes for a highly useful study if not for readers primarily concerned with the history of technology for those interested in the American Southwest, borderlands studies, and U.S. colonialism." Casey P. Cater, Technology and Culture, 62/4 (2021)

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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

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Book SynopsisChiara Bonfiglioli is Lecturer in Gender & Women's Studies at University College Cork, Ireland. She has published and researched on gender history in Yugoslavia and post-Yugoslav states, as well as on transnational women's and feminist movements during the Cold War. More details can be found at www.chiarabonfiglioli.net Trade ReviewIt is thanks to books like this that such examples of resistance and resilience are kept alive ... socially engaged and empathic, yet critical and academically sound, works of this kind are sorely needed. * European Journal of Women’s Studies *An engaging and complex read that allows us to enter the world of individual experiences entangled in political, economic and social processes. * Wagadu *[A]n engaging text ... Bonfiglioli’s book will be a mandatory reference for those interested not only in intersections of industrial labour, gender and class in socialism and post-socialism, but also in questions that shape current debates in the field of global labour history. * Social History *From here, exciting scholarly debate can proceed. ... Chiara Bonfiglioli’s book provides a valuable discussion of gendered work during socialist and especially, postsocialist deindustrialization and exploitative reindustrialization in Yugoslavia and its successor states. * Aspasia: The International Yearbook of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Women's and Gender History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1.Industrializing Yugoslavia: Market Socialism and Textile Workers’ Structure of Feeling 2.Being a Seamstress in Yugoslav Times: The ‘Working Mother’ Gender Contract 3.Labour After Yugoslavia: Post-socialism and Deindustrialization in the Textile Sector 4. Workers’ Structure of Feeling After Deindustrialisation: Loss, Nostalgia and Belonging 5. Beyond Nostalgia: Workers’ Struggles for Social Justice and Everyday Resilience Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisPresents a detailed study of the continuity, diversity, and multiplicity of independent self-help economic activities among African Americans. This edition covers African American business history through the end of the Civil War and features a comprehensive account of black business during the Civil War.

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Book SynopsisA compelling account of the life of one of the great pioneers of electrical science Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925). He showed how to analyse circuit, how to rid telephone lines of distortion and interpreted Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism in a way that working engineers and physicists could understand.Trade Review'an engaging account of this heady, confusing period when electromagnetism was a young science and Heaviside was one of its greatest - and most eccentric - exponents. For Heaviside's relative obscurity was at least partly his own fault. Although he could be witty and even charming to his friends, he was also a thoroughly awkward individual who bore grudges like a champion, speckled his scientific articles with thinly veiled attacks on his enemies and repeatedly rejected pleas to make his papers more understandable. Mahon is clearly sympathetic to his subject, but he does not shrink from the more challenging aspects of either Heaviside's character or his science. This slim volume is an excellent introduction to both.' * Physics World *Table of Contents Chapter 1: Do try to be like other people: London 1850-68 Chapter 2: Seventy words a minute: Fredericia 1868-70 Chapter 3: Waiting for Caroline: Newcastle 1870-74 Chapter 4: Old Teufelsdrockh: London 1874-82 Chapter 5: Good old Maxwell!: London 1882-86 Chapter 6: Making waves: London, Liverpool, Dublin and Karlsruhe 1882-88 Chapter 7: Into battle: London 1886-88 Chapter 8: Self-induction's in the air: Bath and London 1888-89 Chapter 9: Uncle Olly: Paignton 1889-97 Chapter 10: Country life: Newton Abbot 1897-1908 Chapter 11: A Torquay marriage: Torquay 1908-24 Chapter 12: Last days: Torquay 1924-25 Heaviside's legacy

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Book SynopsisIn the early nineteenth century the major English chocolate firms,Fry, Rowntree, and Cadbury,were all Quaker family enterprises that aimed to do well by doing good. The English chocolatiers introduced the world's first chocolate bar and ever fancier chocolate temptations,while also writing ground-breaking papers on poverty, publishing authoritative studies of the Bible, and campaigning against human rights abuses. Chocolate was always a global business, and in the global competitors, especially the Swiss and the Americans Hershey and Mars, the Quaker capitalists met their match. The ensuing chocolate wars would culminate in a multi-billion-dollar showdown pitting Quaker tradition against the cutthroat tactics of a corporate behemoth. Featuring a cast of savvy entrepreneurs, brilliant eccentrics, and resourceful visionaries, Chocolate Wars is a delicious history of the fierce, 150-year business rivalry for one of the world's most coveted markets.Trade ReviewBooklist, October 1, 2010 "This tale of capitalist rivalry mixed with Quaker values makes for a very sweet journey." Washington Post "This is a delicious book, seductive as a tray of bonbons, a Fancy Box in every way." The New Yorker Book Bench "For chocolate lovers and Roald Dahl fans, some heartening news: Willy Wonka's factory - or at least something that sounds very much like it - was a real place... Though Cadbury begins with teasingly enviable childhood recollections... the story she tells is really about Quakers, and one family's continuous struggle to reconcile religious values - pacifism, austerity, sobriety - with the indulgent nature of their product and the ruthlessly competitive capitalism of the world in which they made their fortune... It's hard not to root for these guys and the story is all the more bittersweet because we know how it ends." The Daily Telegraph "Engaging and scholarly, confident and compassionate, Chocolate Wars is less a family biography than an impressively thought provoking parable for our times... A vibrant history." Business Times "Fascinating...Chocolate Wars presents narrative history at its most absorbing, peopled by colourful characters: the true story of the chocolate pioneers, the visions and ideals that inspired them and the mouth-watering concoctions they created... Deborah gives readers an insider look, fleshing out the stories around her family with her familiar competence as a bestselling historian and award winning documentary maker." Kirkus "A fine pocket history of corporate confectionery... Cadbury has a knack for capturing the driven personalities who launched these [chocolate] empires." Library Journal "Although written by proud Cadbury kin, the narrative is balanced and fair. This is a well written and well researched look at chocolate and the Quaker business tradition that any food or history buff will enjoy." Sunday Times "Chocolate Wars - clear, readable and richly detailed - is at least as much about Quakers as it is about chocolate... enjoyable." Financial Times, November 15, 2010 "Deborah Cadbury's branch of the Cadbury family wasn't involved in the chocolate business but she garnered a deep impression from a childhood visit to her cousins' company and the reader of Chocolate Wars feels they are getting an insider's view. Her own background as a historian and TV documentary maker means that this book communicates in an episodic and visual style, making what risks being a dull subject gripping as it flips back and forth around the world documenting parallel events in the emergence of the chocolate industry." Examiner.com, November 14, 2010 "The 150-year rivalry among the world's greatest chocolate making families, is told by a descendant of one of the families. Just think what sweetness came out of these families' rivalries, depicted deliciously in this new book." Boston Globe, November 14, 2010 "Deborah Cadbury begins with a brief description of Quaker aims and humane business practices before moving on through the history of the family business. This takes in the truly exciting race to put Cadbury's chocolate candy in every mouth, to the exclusion of that made by rival English Quaker firms, Rowntree and Fry, to say nothing of the Swiss Lindt and Nestle. Her many faceted account takes in technology, distribution, and industrial espionage, advertising and packaging, labor relations and model housing for workers, the role of the firm and its owners in wartime and international expansion." Gulfnews.com, November 26, 2010 "Engaging and scholarly, Chocolate Wars is less a family biography than an impressively thought-provoking parable for our times." Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2010 "Fascinating...Read this excellent book." Philadelphia Inquirer, November 28, 2010 "The inside story of the 150-year rivalry among Cadbury, Hershey, Nestle, and Mars is a fascinating and luscious tale. Deborah Cadbury, great-great-great-granddaughter of 19th-century chocolate maker John Cadbury, tells it eloquently in Chocolate Wars, drawing the reader into her epic of family and industry with clear love for her subject." Christian Science Monitor, December 1, 2010 "[Chocolate Wars] pits idealism against capitalism, religious piety against the forces of greed and cutthroat competition. Though, like great fiction, it defies belief, it's the true story of our favorite guilty pleasure. Cadbury's book, like her namesake's famous sampler, is full of surprises and delights." Bnreview.com, December 2010 "This engaging history of the 150-year rivalry among the world's greatest chocolate makers-the English firms Fry, Rowntree, and Cadbury (to which the author, Deborah Cadbury, is an heiress), their European competitors Lindt and Nestle, and the American upstarts Hershey and Mars-is delightful, especially for its fascinating portrait of the 19th-century success of Quaker capitalism, built quite remuneratively on the ideal that wealth creation entails responsibilities beyond personal gain."

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Book SynopsisNow widely recognized as a novelist and essayist, working-class writer Ethel Carnie Holdsworth first published as a poet. The three books collected here demonstrate her growth in this genre from her early poems, written when she worked full time in the mill, to her last book of poetry, Voices of Womanhood, which realizes her mature insights into the lives of working-class women. Carnie Holdsworth’s poetry provides both a unique perspective on British life in the early twentieth century and an invaluable testament to the experiences of her gender and class.

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