The Industrial Revolution In World History: Second Edition (Essays in World History)

The industrial revolution is generally recognized as a major development in world history. Even so, the study of it is routinely handled as simply part of Western European history or as part of individual national histories.Peter Stearns offers a genuinely world-historical approach, looking at the international factors that touched off the industrial revolution and at its global spread and impact. In this revised second edition, Stearns begins with an examination of industrialization in the West, but he also treats later cases in other societies—including Japan and the United States, as well as newly revised sections on Russia, Asia, and Latin America—providing the comparative analysis usually lacking in single-nation treatments. Although Stearns defines the essence of industrialization in terms of technology and economic organization, he pays substantial attention to larger social results, especially changes in the experience of work and shifts in family functions and gender roles. The Industrial Revolution in World History seeks to build on recent scholarly advances to include a more fully international and human perspective in our understanding of the industrial revolution. The second edition features fully revised sections on postindustrialization, causation, and non-Western societies, further strengthening Stearns' discussion of complex industrial and international trends. This book will be particularly useful 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.