Description
Book SynopsisExplores the concept of improvement which took root in seventeenth-century England, the political and economic circumstances which led to its rise, the effect it had on the society and culture of England, and its subsequent outreach as the British Empire spread.
Trade ReviewThe Invention of Improvement combines sophisticated synthesis of recent scholarship with extensive research on the printed literature of the period. It deftly weaves together macro-analysis of England's changing fortunes with illuminating vignettes of the activities of particular visionaries and the texts that enshrined their ambitions. * Alexandra Walsham, The Times Literary Supplement *
This is a mature work of scholarship which describes and analyses the development of economic theory in the early modern period and its impact on economic and social policy in the time of Pepys. Thought provoking and readable, it raises fundamental issues of economic policy which are still relevant today. * Julian Amey, chair of the 2015 judging panel for the Samuel Pepys Award *
The historical sweep of this book is in fact vast, from the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century through to the Enlightenment of the 1700s and beyond. Its subject encompasses the entire socio-economic development of that period. It is therefore a challenging book but also a very rewarding one. * Sue Nicholson, Pepys Diary *
This book extends the chronological breadth and analytical depth of this research agenda and employs a novel analytical framework for interpreting it: the culture of improvement. * S. J. Thompson, Continuity and Change *
Its conceptualization and massively detailed content deserve the highest praise ... Slack's magnum opus crowns a career in the field of early modern economic history of quite exceptional achievement. * Anthony Fletcher, History *
this book offers the most detailed examination to date of the development of this concept in English print culture from c.1570 to c.1730 ... Slack's argument is informed by years of painstaking research and extraordinarily wide reading. * Brodie Waddell, English Historical Review *
Table of ContentsList of illustrations ; Abbreviations and Conventions ; 1. Introduction: Varieties of Improvement ; 2. The Discovery of England ; 3. Elizabethan Foundations 1570-1640 ; 4. Revolutions 1640-1670 ; 5. Wealth and Happiness 1670-1690 ; 6. Challenges to Affluence 1690-1730 ; 7. England's Improvement ; 8. Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index
