Allen, Robert C. The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. 2010. Explains the origins of the Industrial Revolution and why it took place in Britain and not elsewhere.
Davidoff, Leonore, and Catherine Hall. Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1750–1850, rev. ed. 2003. Examines both economic activities and cultural beliefs with great skill.
Dolan, Brian. Wedgwood: The First Tycoon. 2004. A comprehensive study of the famous entrepreneur.
Griffin, Emma. A Short History of the British Industrial Revolution. 2010. An accessible and lively introduction to the subject.
Horn, Jeff, Leonard N. Rosenband, and Merritt Roe Smith. Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution. 2010. A collection of essays by leading scholars that re-examines the most contentious debates in the field.
Humphries, Jane. Childhood and Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution. 2010. A moving account of the experience of children during the Industrial Revolution, based on numerous autobiographies.
James, Harold. Family Capitalism. 2006. A study of the entrepreneurial dynasties of the British Industrial Revolution.
Mokyr, Joel. The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700–1850. 2009. A masterful explanation of industrialization and economic growth in Britain that emphasizes the impact of Enlightenment openness and curiosity.
Pomeranz, Kenneth. The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. 2000. A sophisticated reconsideration of why western Europe underwent industrialization and China did not.
Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, ed. Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and Its European Rivals, 1688–1815. 2004. Compares the path toward economic development in Britain and the rest of Europe.
DOCUMENTARIES
Engineering an Empire: Britain: Blood and Steel (History Channel, 2006). Examines the feats of engineering from the Industrial Revolution onward that led to Britain’s imperial expansion.
Great Victorian Railway Journeys: How Modern Britain Was Built by Victorian Steam Power (BBC, 2012). A popular British television series re-creates five journeys by train from the Victorian era, showing the impact of rail travel on English culture and society.
Mill Times (PBS, 2006). A combination of documentary video and animated re-enactments that tell the story of the mechanization of the cotton industry in Britain and the United States.
FEATURE FILMS AND TELEVISION
Germinal (Claude Berri, 1993). In a European coal-mining town during the Industrial Revolution, exploited workers go on strike and encounter brutal repression from the authorities.
Hard Times (Granada TV, 1977). A four-hour miniseries adaptation of Charles Dickens’s famous novel about the bitter life of mill workers in England during the Industrial Revolution.
Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski, 2005). A film based on a novel by Charles Dickens depicting the harsh conditions of life for orphans and poor children in nineteenth-century London.
WEB SITES
Industrial Revolution. A collection of primary sources on the Industrial Revolution at the Fordham University Internet Modern History Sourcebook. www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook14.asp
Spinning the Web. A Web site offering comprehensive information on the people, places, industrial processes, and products involved in the mechanization of the British cotton industry. www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/industry
Women Working, 1800–1930. A digital collection of the Harvard University Library, with sources and links related to women’s labor in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww