Synopses & Reviews
The Industrial Revolution: A History in Documents uses a wide variety of primary source documents to chronicle a period of great international social and technological change that began in England in the 18th century. Improvements were made to the steam engine that meant that many tasks that had been done by hand in the past could be mechanized. With locomotives and steamships, goods could now be transported very quickly and within a reasonably predictable time. Other changes included the use of iron and steel, invention of new machines that increased production (including the spinning jenny), development of the factory system, and important developments in transportation and communication (including the telegraph). Thay all led to agricultural improvements, a wider distribution of wealth, political changes reflecting the shift in economic power, and sweeping social changes. This book relies on primary sources such as personal diaries, advice books, poems, business reports, letters, photos, and essays to tell the story behind this rapidly changing period and its far-reaching effects.
About the Author
Dr. Frader is a Professor of history at Northeastern University. She specializes in French social and labor history and European women's and gender history, and has written extensively on these topics. Her publications include Peasants and Protest: Agricultural Workers, Politics and Unions in the Aude, 1850-1914 (University of California Press, 1991); Gender and Class in Modern Europe (co-edited with Sonya O. Rose, Cornell University Press,1996), Race in France: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Difference (co-edited with Herrick Chapman, Berghahn, 2004); The Industrial Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2006); and Breadwinners and Citizens: Gender in the Making of the French Social Model (Duke University Press, 2008) as well as many articles in English and French-language journals. She has served on the editorial boards of The Journal of Modern History and French Historical Studies, and serves on the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society.
Table of Contents
What is a Document?How to Read a Document?
Introduction
Chapter One: Before the Industrial Revolution
Hard Work in the Countryside
The Power of Guilds
Labor Bondage
Rural Revolution
Chapter Two: The Age of Machines
The New Spirit of Enterprise
The Force of Steam
Race and Gender
Harsh Discipline and Awful Conditions
Chapter Three: Picture Essay: A Childhood at Work
Chapter Four: The Family and Private Life in the Industrial Age
Middle-Class Ideals
Working-Class Realities
Juggling Work and Family
The Endless Day
Chapter Five: Global Repercussions
World Trade in Slaves
Empire Building
Global Industrialization
Chapter Six: Protest and Resistance
From Violence to Organization
Socialism and Revolution
International Movements
omen's Place: Home or Factory?
Strike!
Governments Take Action
Afterword
Timeline
Further Reading
Websites
Text Credits
Picture Credits
Index