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Description
The industrial revolution was the single most important development in human history over the past three centuries, and it continues to shape the contemporary world. With new methods and organizations for producing goods, industrialization altered where people live, how they play, and even how they define political issues. By exploring the ways the industrial revolution reshaped world history, this book offers a unique look into the international factors that started the industrial revolution and its global spread and impact.
In the fourth edition, noted historian Peter N. Stearns continues his global analysis of the industrial revolution with new discussions of industrialization outside of the West, including the study of India, the Middle East, and China. In addition, an expanded conclusion contains an examination of the changing contexts of industrialization. The Industrial Revolution in World History is essential for students of world history and economics, as well as for those seeking to know more about the global implications of what is arguably the defining socioeconomic event of modern times.
About the Author
Peter N. Stearns is provost and professor of history at George Mason University. He is the editor of the Journal of Social History and the author or editor of more than 115 books, including World Civilizations: The Global Experience and World History in Brief: Major Patterns of Change and Continuity.
“In this new edition Peter Stearns updates and refines his authoritative account of industrialization's global spread and impacts. This concise and highly readable account remains a very suitable introduction for non-specialists.” –David Northrup, Boston College
“The provocative questions, wide-ranging geography, attention to individuals as well as groups and updated chapters ensure Stearns will remain the outstanding single volume covering the industrial revolutions. Like its subject, The Industrial Revolution in World History has continued to evolve. This fourth edition will continue to challenge students to analyze the effects of industrialization and modernization on the local, regional, national, and global levels for the future as well as the present and past.” –Jonathan Coopersmith, Texas A&M University
Praise for Prior Editions
“Skillfully places the industrial revolution in world perspective and discusses its global rippling effect.”—The Historian
"An impressive survey of the spread of industrialization from the beginnings of that process in the United Kingdom and northwest Europe to much of the rest of the globe, with an emphasis on the social consequences of that continuous change. . . . Stearns compressed all this with rich prose and exceptional clarity.”—History: Reviews of New Books
“Sets forth the high standards and ingenuity of thought one comes to expect from a master scholar. . . . In a most economical but engaging fashion, this interpretative essay goes forth to weave an illuminating tapestry tracing the industrial revolution from its origins in 18th century Britain to . . . the 21st century.”—Labor History
“The spread of the book is excellent. Many countries totally overlooked in most books get treatment here. . . . Stearns’s approach completely integrates the social changes that resulted from the industrial revolution. . . . This book would serve as an excellent text in an introductory course on the industrial revolution or as a supplemental text for a general history course from 1800 on. It is well written, easily accessible to general readers, and presupposes no technical background for the reader.”—Choice
“Though a number of important comparative studies have appeared on industrialization, none begins to match the range of cases or the extent of the time span covered in this fine overview of one of the central processes in modern world history. Peter Stearns combines an astute analysis of the permutations in the pattern of industrialization as it spread from Great Britain across the globe with a lively discussion of its often quite varied cultural, social, and political effects in different societies.”—Michael Adas, Rutgers University
Introduction: Defining the Industrial Revolution
Part One | The First Phase, 1760–1880
Western Primacy, Global Contexts, and Global Results
1. Britain’s Revolution
2. New Causes
3. The Industrial Revolution in Western Society
4. The Social Impact of the Industrial Revolution
5. The Industrial Revolution Outside the West
Part Two | The Second Phase, 1880–1950
The New International Cast
6. The Industrial Revolution Changes Stripes, 1880–1950
7. The Industrial Revolution in Russia
8. The Industrial Revolution in Japan
9. New Developments in Western Societies: A Second Revolution?
10. The Industrial Revolution in International Context
Part Three | The Third Phase, 1950s–2000s
The Industrialization of the World
11. The Industrial Revolution in the Past Half Century: The Third Phase
12. New Industrial Revolutions
13. The Less Industrial World
14. “Postindustrial: Societies and Global Balance
15. Global Industry and the Environment
16. Globalization and Global Industrial Societies
17. Conclusion
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