What’s the Significance?
Big Picture Questions
What did humankind gain from the Industrial Revolution, and what did it lose?
In what ways might the Industrial Revolution be understood as a global rather than simply a European phenomenon?
How might you situate the Industrial Revolution in the long history of humankind? How do you think the material covered in this chapter will be viewed 50, 100, or 200 years into the future?
Looking Back: How did the Industrial Revolution interact with the Scientific Revolution and the French Revolution to generate Europe’s modern transformation?
Next Steps: For Further Study
John Charles Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire (2006). A lively and well-written account of Latin America’s turbulent history since the sixteenth century.
Jack Gladstone, Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850 (2009). An original synthesis of recent research provided by a leading world historian.
David S. Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (1998). An argument that culture largely shapes the possibilities for industrialization and economic growth.
Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World (2007). An effective summary of new thinking about the origins of European industrialization.
Peter Stearns, The Industrial Revolution in World History (1998). A global and comparative perspective on the Industrial Revolution.
Peter Waldron, The End of Imperial Russia, 1855–1917 (1997). A brief account of Russian history during its early industrialization.
Bridging World History, Units 18 and 19, http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory. An innovative world history Web site that provides pictures, video, and text dealing with “Rethinking the Rise of the West” and “Global Industrialization.”