Suggested Reading and Media Resources

• Allen, Robert C. The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. 2009. 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.

• 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.

• Morris, Charles R. The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution. 2012. Tells the story of the individuals, inventions, and trade networks that transformed the United States from a rural economy to a global industrial power.

• 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.

• Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, and R. Bin Wong. Before and Beyond Divergence: The Politics of Economic Change in China and Europe. 2011. A study of the similarities and differences between Europe and China that led to the origins and growth of industrialization in Europe.

• Stearns, Peter N. The Industrial Revolution in World History, 4th ed. 2012. A useful brief survey.

• The Children Who Built Victorian Britain (BBC, 2011). An account of the role of child labor in the Industrial Revolution, based on written testimonies from children of that era.

• 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 tells the story of the mechanization of the cotton industry in Britain and the United States.

• 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.

• Images of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. A collection of annotated images from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries covering various aspects of the Industrial Revolution. http://www.netnicholls.com/neh2001/index.html

• 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