Rethinking the Industrial Revolution

Žmolek offers the first in-depth study of the evolution of English manufacturing from the feudal and early modern periods within the context of the development of agrarian capitalism. With an emphasis on the relationship between Parliament and working Britons, this work challenges readers to 'rethink' the perception of the role of the state in the first industrial revolution as passive.

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction

PART I: ENGLAND TRANSFORMED: MANUFACTURING AND AGRARIAN CAPITALISM, 1348–1783

1. The Pre-History of Industry
2. Parliament and Revolution
3. Agrarian Capitalism: The Key to Britain’s Rise to Power
4. An Empire in Crisis
5. Harvesting the Agrarian Revolution


PART II: ‘SUCH MACHINES … AS CANNOT ERR’: CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE MAKING OF INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND, 1700–1800

6. Technology and History
7. The Social Origins of the Factory
8. Factories and Machinery
9. Capital and Industry

PART III: CUSTOM’S LAST STAND: THE RISE AND FALL OF ARTISAN-LED RESISTANCE
TO CAPITALISM IN ENGLAND, 1783–1848

10. Custom and Law
11. Rebellion and Reaction
12. Class and the State
13. Reform and the Oligarchy
14. Chartists and Liberals

Conclusion
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index