Main entry:

Wrigley, E. A. (Edward Anthony), 1931-

Title & Author:

Energy and the English Industrial Revolution / E.A. Wrigley.

Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Description:

xiii, 272 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
List of figures -- List of tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I.A Sketch of the Argument. 1. The limits to growth in organic economies -- 2. The transition from an organic to an energy-rich economy -- Part II. Favourable Developments . 3. Agricultural change and urbanisation -- 4. Energy and transport -- 5. Occupational structure, aggregate income, and migration -- 6. Production and reproduction -- Part III. What Set England Apart from her Neighbours. 7. The timing and nature of change in the industrial revolution -- 8. Modernisation and the industrial revolution -- Part IV. Retrospective. 9. The industrial revolution and energy.

Summary:

"The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the revolution began but still more why it did not quickly end. The answer lay in the use of a new source of energy. Pre-industrial societies had access only to very limited energy supplies. As long as mechanical energy came principally from human or animal muscle and heat energy from wood, the maximum attainable level of productivity was bound to be low. Exploitation of a new source of energy in the form of coal provided an escape route from the constraints of an organic economy but also brought novel dangers. Since this happened first in England, its experience has a special fascination, though other countries rapidly followed suit"-- Provided by publisher.

Resources:
Table of contents
Book review (H-Net)
Contributor biographical information
Cover image
Publisher description
View this book online, via VLeBooks, both on- and off-campus
This title is also available as an eBook. Click here.
This title is also available in print. Click here.

ISBN:

9780521766937
0521766931
9780521131858 (pbk.)
0521131855 (pbk.)

Subject:

Power resources Great Britain History.
Coal trade Great Britain History.
Industrial revolution Great Britain.
Ressources énergétiques Grande-Bretagne Histoire.
Charbon Industrie Grande-Bretagne Histoire.
Révolution industrielle Grande-Bretagne.
Coal trade.
Industrial revolution.
Power resources.
Industrielle Revolution
Kohlenversorgung
Energieversorgung
Industrialisierung
Industriella revolutionen Storbritannien.
Ekonomisk historia Storbritannien 1700-talet 1800-talet.
Great Britain.
Großbritannien

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 295939
Call No.: BIB 242302
Status: Available