From noted historian Peter N. Stearns, a concise, accessible examination of the industrial revolution through the twenty-first century, investigating the cause and effect of this global phenomenon.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Introduction: Defining the Industrial Revolution
• Technology and Work Organization
• Issues in Interpretation
• The Range of the Industrial Revolution
• Chronology and Geography
• PART ONE | The First Phase, 1760–1880: Western Primacy, Global Contexts, and Global Results
• 1 Britain's Revolution: New Processes and Economic Transformation
• 2 New Causes: Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen, and Why Did It Happen in Eighteenth-Century Britain?
• 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?: Redefinitions of the Industrial Economy
• 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
• 12 New Industrial Revolutions
• 13 The Less Industrial World: Evolution and Exploitation
• 14 Postindustrial Societies and Global Balance
• 15 Global Industry and the Environment
• 16 Globalization and Global Industrial Societies 1880–1950
• 17 Conclusions
• Acknowledgments
• Suggestions for Further Reading