1. Introduction: Nature and Significance of the Debates 2. Defining the Industrial Revolution 3. Early Explanations 4. Expanding the Analysis 5. A More Global Perspective 6. Conclusion: The Current Status of Debate Bibliography Index
This is a primer for students of the industrial revolution, a key theme in world history courses, introducing the key debates regarding industrialization and providing an understanding of the historiography and the practice of historical interpretation.
Peter N. Stearns is Professor of History at George Mason University, USA. A leading expert on world history, he has authored and edited numerous acclaimed books, including The Encyclopedia of World History (2001), Globalization in World History (2009) and World Civilizations: The Global Experience (2006).
Intended for use in classrooms, priced reasonably, and written at a
level accessible to an American college freshman, Debating the
Industrial Revolution by Peter Stearns serves both process- and
content-related purposes. Each chapter addresses major “debates”
about industrialization—the role of natural resources, for
instance, or of proto-industrialization, or of individuals in
helping to advance social and economic transformation.
Simultaneously, Stearns introduces such basic elements of
historical process as determining the difference between
correlation and causation, understanding quantitative versus
qualitative arguments, and attempting to recognize that historians’
biases may influence their ability to fairly consider interpretive
questions.
*Journal of British Studies*
Debating the Industrial Revolution asks the right questions. Firmly
rooted in the British case and its European context, but engaging
the process of industrialization, this work is appropriate for
global history courses. Peter Stearns formulates easy-to-understand
questions based on complex issues of historical causation and
economic development. By emphasizing the multiple linkages between
political power and economics as well as the vital role of
individuals, Stearns encourages students to interrogate the problem
of industrialization comparatively and to formulate their own
approaches to answering the key questions posed here.
*Jeff Horn, Professor of History, Manhattan College, USA*
Forget the old textbooks that bored students and other readers
witless with endless statistics and indecipherable economic theory.
This new book captures the debates about a venerable topic, the
British Industrial Revolution, in an engaging and open-ended way.
At each step we are captivated by Peter Stearns’ breadth of his
reading, the acuity of his summaries, and the lack of condescension
as he suggests why historians might have followed one path or
another, only to meet problems of evidence or coherence that then
took them in yet new directions.
*Robert Pascoe, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia*
No one has written about the rise and spread of industrialization
on a global scale as perceptively and as rigorously comparatively
as Peter Stearns. This concise overview of one of the most pivotal
processes in all of human history raises the key questions,
considers the major debates, and explores the diverse consequences
for societies and states that are relevant, and increasingly
urgent, for the present and future of our troubled planet.
*Michael Adas, Rutgers University, USA*
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