Description
Book SynopsisIn Rethinking the Industrial Revolution, Michael Andrew Zmolek offers the first in-depth study of the evolution of English manufacturing from the feudal and early modern periods within the context of the development of agrarian capitalism. The work chronicles how a long train of struggles led by artisans resisting efforts by employers to transform production along capitalist lines, prompted employers to appeal to the state to suppress this resistance by coercion.
Trade Review"...Žmolek's book is a superb read and is a remarkable piece of scholarship. He has a unparallelled grasp of the material, both in terms of the historical record and his understanding of contemporary analyses of the subject under discussion. This book will undoubtedly be debated and studied for many years." —ResoluteReader
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Foreword Introduction PART I: ENGLAND TRANSFORMED: MANUFACTURING AND AGRARIAN CAPITALISM, 1348–1783 1. The Pre-History of Industry 2. Parliament and Revolution 3. Agrarian Capitalism: The Key to Britain’s Rise to Power 4. An Empire in Crisis 5. Harvesting the Agrarian Revolution PART II: ‘SUCH MACHINES … AS CANNOT ERR’: CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE MAKING OF INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND, 1700–1800 6. Technology and History 7. The Social Origins of the Factory 8. Factories and Machinery 9. Capital and Industry PART III: CUSTOM’S LAST STAND: THE RISE AND FALL OF ARTISAN-LED RESISTANCE TO CAPITALISM IN ENGLAND, 1783–1848 10. Custom and Law 11. Rebellion and Reaction 12. Class and the State 13. Reform and the Oligarchy 14. Chartists and Liberals Conclusion Epilogue Bibliography Index
