The richly varied lives of the Martin brothers reflected the many upheavals of Britain in the age of Industrial Revolution. Low-born and largely unschooled, they were part of a new generation of artists, scientists and inventors who witnessed the creation of the modern world. William, the eldest, was a cussedly eccentric inventor who couldn't look at a piece of machinery without thinking about how to improve it; Richard, a courageous soldier, fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo; Jonathan, a hellfire preacher tormented by madness and touched with a visionary genius reminiscent of William Blake, almost burned down York Minster in 1829; while John, the youngest Martin, single-handedly invented, mastered and exhausted an entire genre of painting, the apocalyptic sublime, while playing host to the foremost writers, scientists and thinkers of his day. In The Prometheans Max Adams interweaves the fascinating story of these maverick siblings with a magisterial and multi-faceted account of the industrial, political and artistic ferment of early 19th-century Britain. His narrative centres on a generation of inventors, artists and radical intellectuals (including the chemist Humphry Davy, the engineer George Stephenson, the social reformer Robert Owen and the poet Shelley) who were seeking to liberate humanity from the tyranny of material discomfort and political oppression. For Adams, the shared inspiration that binds this generation together is the cult of Prometheus, the titan of ancient Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus to give to mortal man, and who became a potent symbol of political and personal liberation from the mid-18th century onwards. Whether writing about Davy's invention of the miner's safety lamp, the scandalous private life of the Prince Regent, the death of Shelley or J.M.W. Turner's use of colour, Adams's narrative is pacy, characterful, and rich in anecdote, quotation and memorable character sketch. Like John Martin himself, he has created a sprawling and brightly coloured canvas on an epic scale.

"Mining in a Medieval Landscape" explores the history and archaeology of the late medieval royal silver mines at Bere Ferrers in Devon's Tamar Valley and examines their significance for mining history as a whole. Comparing their impact on the landscape with that of less intensive, traditional mining industries, this authoritative volume analyzes maps and documents together in light of recent archaeological field surveys, allowing the mining landscape to be reconstructed in remarkable detail.

Palm oil is the quintessence of West Africa - it is complex, an acquired taste and reckoned to be rather unhealthy. Small chop is the addition of ingredients that make it palatable for European taste. From the unique perspective of working aboard merchant ships trading to the area, the author provides a viewpoint of the first 25 years of West African independence - it is simultaneously the story of the final years of many of the British Merchant Navy's liner trades where fortunes largely depended upon imperial routes. The author served in ships of three very different shipping companies, two British and one Nigerian, and from this unusual breadth of experience, a fascinating story of ships, their crews, their cargoes and the peoples from Senegal to Angola is told. The last of the famous surf ports, the navigation of the twisting waterways of the Niger Delta and the ascent of the great Congo River are vividly described. A colourful picture is painted of the astonishing variety of cargoes and how ships almost literally felt their way across treacherous mudbanks, picked their way through mangrove-bordered creeks with local pilots boarding from canoes. The reader also meets the local inhabitants who include hard-working men from the desert interior, their more wily brethren from the coastal regions, itinerant traders and plausible rogues, the cowed workers of Portuguese Angola and, above all, the famous Kroomen of Freetown who helped work the ships around this intriguing coast of crashing surf and foetid creeks. With the fortunes of the new nations faltering, the Palm Line ships are forced to find work in other trades. The author experiences daily life in Poland under martial law, later finding himself on voyages to Brazil, the Indian sub-continent and Australia aboard ships primarily designed for the West African ports. Told sympathetically, yet with a keen eye for the absurd and downright funny, this is a lively, informative story of ordinary people trying to make a living in a world where events, over which they have no control, change their lives irreversibly.

This is the second volume on the history of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), covering the period 1932 to 1945. In 1931, when the economic slump created mass unemployment, the TGWU was a large rambling union. The union lost members, struggled to hold its activists together, and split politically between communists and their allies and the right-wing labour leadership of Bevin. This spilled over to the struggle of the unemployed, the role of the state, and attitudes to the growth of fascism at home and abroad. By the late 1930s, an armament-inspired boom allowed the TGWU to negotiate industry-wide formal agreements in many of its strongholds - docks, passenger and commercial road transport, and general labourers. These deals favoured the weak but held back the strong such as the London bus workers who staged strikes based on rank-and-file organisation. These were matched by local strikes against a range of speed-up initiatives. The TGWU backed rearmament and the war when it came. The leadership put aside its anti-communism for the duration, and communist-inspired shop stewards played major roles in improving war-time productivity. The union grew and large numbers of women joined, forming their own groups and playing an increasing role in union affairs. At the same time the TGWU hesitantly supported liberation in the colonies. As the war came to an end, the union supported the welfare reforms of the Beveridge report and backed the election of a Labour Government.

Following on from his popular series examining industrial steam in regions of the UK, Gordon Edgar looks at a series of fascinating workings around the world during the final days of steam in industry. Numerous globe-trotting trips in the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty-first century by the author, and other talented photographers, has produced a remarkable record of steam at work in locations as varied as Western and Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. With stunning, evocative photographs that capture not only the final days of these industrial workhorses, but also the atmosphere of the environments in which they toiled, including coal mines, quarries, steelworks, and sugar plantations, this is a fitting tribute to an important aspect of international industrial history. This first of two volumes focuses on scenes captured in the latter decades of the twentieth century.

The economic life of Thessaloniki and Macedonia in general is unfolded through stocks issued by limited companies during an important period of its history (1870-1940), which covered the final years of the Turkish occupation and saw the incorporation of the city and region into the modern Greek state. A total of 84 stock certificates are represented, most of them shares or company bonds, accompanied by details of the foundation and history of the issuing companies, the majority of which were based in Thessaloniki. The illustrations on the certificates are highly interesting. Their variety of subjects and colour harmony is particularly striking at the present day, when stock certificates have become immaterial and no longer have their traditional printed form. Slipcased; 212 illustrations, most in colour. Parallel text Greek and English. Prologue by Professor Evangelos Venizelos

Richard Mendelson brings together his expertise as both a Napa Valley lawyer and a winemaker into this accessible overview of American wine law from colonial times to the present. It is a story of fits and starts that provides a fascinating chronicle of the history of wine in the United States told through the lens of the law. From the country's early support for wine as a beverage to the moral and religious fervor that resulted in Prohibition and to the governmental controls that followed Repeal, Mendelson takes us to the present day - and to the emergence of an authentic and significant wine culture. He explains how current laws shape the wine industry in such areas as pricing and taxation, licensing, appellations, health claims and warnings, labeling, and domestic and international commerce. As he explores these and other legal and policy issues, Mendelson lucidly highlights the concerns that have made wine alternatively the demon or the darling of American society - and at the same time illuminates the ways in which lives and livelihoods are affected by the rise and fall of social movements.

Cycling advocates envisage a future in which bikes are a widespread daily form of transportation. While many global cities are seeing the number of bike commuters increase, this future is still far away; at times, urban cycling seems to be fighting for its very survival. Will we ever witness a true "bike boom" in cities? What can we learn from past successes and failures to make cycling safer, easier, and more accessible? Use of bicycles in Britain and America fell off a cliff in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to the rapid rise in car ownership. Urban planners and politicians predicted that cycling would wither to nothing, and they did their level best to bring about this extinction by catering to only motorists. But in the 1970s, something strange happened, cycling bounced back, first in America and then in Britain. In Bike Boom, journalist Carlton Reid uses history to shine a spotlight on the present and demonstrates how cycling has the potential to grow even further, if the right measures are put in place by the politicians and planners of today and tomorrow.He explores the benefits and challenges of cycling, the roles of infrastructure and advocacy, and what we can learn from cities that have successfully supported and encouraged bike booms, including London; Davis, California; Montreal; Stevenage; Amsterdam; New York; and Copenhagen. Given that today's global cycling "boom" has its roots in the early 1970s, Reid draws lessons from that period. At that time, the Dutch were investing in bike infrastructure and advocacy, the US and the UK had the choice to follow the Dutch example, but didn't. Reid sets out to discover what we can learn from the history of bike "booms" in this entertaining and thought-provoking book.

In this book, economist Jean-Philippe Platteau addresses the question: does Islam, the religion of Muslims, bear some responsibility for a lack of economic development in the countries in which it dominates? In his nuanced approach, Platteau challenges the widespread view that the doctrine of Islam is reactionary in the sense that it defends tradition against modernity and individual freedom. He also questions the view that fusion between religion and politics is characteristic of Islam and predisposes it to theocracy. He disagrees with the substantivist view that Islam is a major obstacle to modern development because of a merging of religion and the state, or a fusion between the spiritual and political domains. But he also identifies how Islam's decentralized organization, in the context of autocratic regimes, may cause political instability and make reforms costly.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Ever since the Industrial Revolution of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, industrialization has been the key to modern economic growth. The fact that modern industry originated in Britain, and spread initially to north-western Europe and North America, implied a dramatic divergence in living standards between the industrial North (or 'West') and a non-industrial, or even de-industrializing, South (or 'Rest'). This nineteenth-century divergence, which had profound economic, military, and geopolitical implications, has been studied in great detail by many economists and historians. Today, this divergence between the 'West' and the 'Rest' is visibly unravelling, as economies in Asia, Latin America and even sub-Saharan Africa converge on the rich economies of Europe and North America. This phenomenon, which is set to define the twenty-first century, both economically and politically, has also been the subject of a considerable amount of research. Less appreciated, however, are the deep historical roots of this convergence process, and in particular of the spread of modern industry to the global periphery. This volume fills this gap by providing a systematic, comparative, historical account of the spread of modern manufacturing beyond its traditional heartland, to Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, or what we call the poor periphery. It identifies the timing of this convergence, finding that this was fastest in the interwar and post-World War II years, not the more recent 'miracle growth' years. It also identifies which driving forces were common to all periphery countries, and which were not.

On the banks of the Pacific Northwest's greatest river lies the Hanford nuclear reservation, an industrial site that appears to be at odds with the surrounding vineyards and desert. The 586-square mile compound on the Columbia in eastern Washington is known both for its origins as part of the Manhattan Project, which made the first atomic bombs, and for the monumental effort now under way to clean up forty-five years' of waste from manufacturing plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Hanford routinely makes the news, as scientists, litigants, administrators, and politicians argue over its past and its future.

It is easy to think about Hanford as an expression of federal power, a place apart from humanity and nature, but that view is a distortion of its history. "Atomic Frontier Days" looks through a wider lens, telling a complex story of production, community-building, politics, and environmental sensibilities. In brilliantly structured parallel stories, the authors bridge the divisions that accompany Hanford's headlines and offer perspective on today's controversies. Influenced as much by regional culture, economics, and politics as by war, diplomacy, and environmentalism, the story of Hanford and the Tri-Cities of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick illuminates the history of the modern American West.

John M. Findlay is professor of history at the University of Washington. His focus is social and urban history. Bruce Hevly is associate professor of history at the University of Washington. His focus is history of science and technology.

""Atomic Frontier Days" captures one of the most interesting and controversial places in the American West in all its surprising particularity. Technologically sophisticated, shrewd, at once analytically unflinching and generous, it belongs on the short list of books necessary to understand the West and its complicated relation to the nation." -Richard White, author of "The Organic Machine"

"This richly detailed study takes us beyond big government programs and corporate contracts to show people coping with the intricate dance of science and technology, warfare and welfare, the mess of making bombs and the business of cleaning up." -Virginia Scharff, Center for the Southwest, University of New Mexico

The contributors to this collection of seven essays (plus an editor's introduction and a comparative afterword) have framed debates about the construction of commercial culture in China. They all have agreed that during the early twentieth century China's commercial culture was centered in the private sector of Shanghai's economy and especially in the "concession" areas under Western or Japanese rule, but they have differed over the issue of whether foreign influence was decisive in the creation of Shanghai's commercial culture. Between 1900 and 1937, was Shanghai's commercial culture imported from the West or invented locally? And between 1937 and 1945, was the history of this commercial culture cut short by Japanese military invasions and occupations of the city or was it sustained throughout the war? The contributors have proposed various and even conflicting answers to these questions, and their interpretations bear upon wider debates in historical, cultural, and comparative studies.

In the late nineteenth century, Mexican citizens quickly adopted new technologies imported from abroad to sew cloth, manufacture glass bottles, refine minerals, and provide many goods and services. Rapid technological change supported economic growth and also brought cultural change and social dislocation. Drawing on three detailed case studies the sewing machine, a glass bottle blowing factory, and the cyanide process for gold and silver refining, Edward Beatty explores a central paradox of economic growth in nineteenth-century Mexico. While Mexicans made significant efforts to integrate new machines and products, difficulties in assimilating the skills required to use emerging technologies resulted in a persistent dependence on international expertise.

Since the Middle Ages Europe has been one of the most urbanized continents on the planet and Europe's cities have firmly stamped their imprint on the continent's economic, social, political, and cultural life.
This study of European cities and towns from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day looks both at regional trends from across Europe and also at the widely differing fortunes of individual communities on the roller coaster of European urbanization. Taking a wide-angled view of the continent that embraces northern and eastern Europe as well as the city systems of the Mediterranean and western Europe, it addresses important debates ranging from the nature of urban survival in the post-Roman era to the position of the European city in a globalizing world.
The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the middle ages, the early modern period, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - with each part containing chapters on urban trends, the urban economy, social developments, cultural life and landscape, and governance. Throughout, the book addresses key questions such as the role of migration, including that of women and ethnic minorities; the functioning of competition and emulation between cities, as well as issues of inter-urban cooperation; the different ways civic leaders have sought to promote urban identity and visibility; the significance of urban autonomy in enabling cities to protect their interests against the state; and not least why European cities and towns over the period have been such pressure cookers for new ideas and creativity, whether economic, political, or cultural.

Symbolic Caxton is the first study to explore the introduction of printing in symbolic terms. It presents a powerful literary history in which the fifteenth century is crucial to the overall story of English literature. William Kuskin argues that the development of print production is part of a larger social network involving the political, economic, and literary systems that produce the intangible constellations of identity and authority. For Kuskin, William Caxton (1422-1491), the first English printer, becomes a unique lens through which to view these issues. Kuskin contends that recognizing the fundamental complexity inherent in the transformation from manuscript to print-the power of literature to formulate its audience, the intimacy of capital and communication, the closeness of commodities and identity-makes possible a clear understanding of the way cultural, bibliographical, financial, and technological instruments intersect in a process of symbolic production. While this book is the first to connect the contents of late medieval literature to its technological form, it also speaks to contemporary culture, wrestling with our own paradigm shift in the relationship between literature and technology.

A whole succession of printing presses, machine tools, motorboats, aircraft, railway engines, trucks and automobiles have been powered by an engine from the factories of D Napier and son. From racing cars to weighing machines for the Bank of England, from world-class Deltic locomotives to the Napier Lion racing aircraft engine, the most powerful of the world's machines have been Napier powered. This volume tells the history of D Napier and Son from the company's beginnings in Lambeth to the works in Acton, NW London. Other works were later located in Luton and Liverpool too. At its peak 20,000 people worked for the Napier company, which now produces from the Napier Turbocharger Works at Lincoln.

London's Industrial Past gives the reader an opportunity to read about a selection of factories that were once scattered across the city. While older generations may look back at the names that have gone with great affection, for the younger reader it may come as a surprise that so many 'things' were once manufactured in Britain's capital city. The sheer wealth and breadth of products that were made is staggering, from the mundanity of biscuits to the hightech of aircraft production. This volume sheds light on those lost names, many of which are still with us, but no longer made in London, or indeed in the UK. Areas of manufacture covered include brewing, toys, aircraft, cars, sweets, biscuits, electrical goods and art and photographic supplies. Brands mentioned include Truman's, Lesney, Handley Page, Bentley, Trebor, Peek Freans, Lyons, Hoover, Kodak and Beechams. Packed with archive images and illustrations, this volume will be a great addition to the library of anybody with an interest in London's history.

This volume tells a story of Welsh industrial history different from the one traditionally dominated by the coal and iron communities of Victorian and Edwardian Wales. Extending the chronological scope from the early eighteenth- to the late twentieth-century, and encompassing a wider range of industries, the contributors combine studies of the internal organisation of workplace and production with outward-facing perspectives of Welsh industry in the context of the global economy. The volume offers important new insights into the companies, the employers, the markets and the money behind some of the key sectors of the Welsh economy - from coal to copper, and from steel to manufacturing - and challenges us to reconsider what we think of as constituting 'industry' in Wales.

The potato chip has been one of America's favorite snacks since its accidental origin in a nineteenth-century kitchen. Crunch! A History of the Great American Potato Chip tells the story of this crispy, salty treat, from the early sales of locally made chips at corner groceries, county fairs, and cafes to the mass marketing and corporate consolidation of the modern snack food industry. Crunch! also uncovers a dark side of potato chip history, including a federal investigation of the snack food industry in the 1990s following widespread allegations of antitrust activity, illegal buyouts, and predatory pricing. In the wake of these ""Great Potato Chip Wars,"" corporate snack divisions closed and dozens of family-owned companies went bankrupt. Yet, despite consolidation, many small chippers persist into the twenty-first century, as mom-and-pop companies and upstart ""boutique"" businesses serve both new consumers and markets with strong regional loyalties. Illustrated with images of early snack food paraphernalia and clever packaging from the glory days of American advertising art, Crunch! is an informative tour of large and small business in America and the vicissitudes of popular tastes.

Professor Rein's travels and researches, undertaken at the cost of the Prussian government, took place during the crucial period of rediscovery by Japan and the West of each other. What makes Rein's work so interesting and classic is his extraordinary organization and attention to detail: no other survey has covered so much ground with such depth of analysis. The facsimile reissue of Rein's work attempts to do justice to the quality of the original illustrations at a realistic price. These illustrations demonstrate the richness and variety of techniques in use in Japanese industry at the time.

Treasure House to the World tells the story of the rise of Canadian gold mining and its environmental consequences in the Abitibi region of northern Ontario in the early twentieth century. It connects Canadian gold mining to its international context and demonstrates how mining companies redistribute the harms associated with extraction to nearby communities.

The 1973 'Oil Shock' is considered a turning point in the history of the twentieth century. At the time it seemed to mark a definitive shift from the era of low priced oil to the era of expensive oil. For most Western industrialized countries, it became the symbolic marker of the end of an era. For many oil producers, it translated into an unprecedented control over their energy resources, and completed the process of decolonization, leading to a profound redefinition of international relations. This book provides an analysis of the crisis and its global political and economic impact. It features contributions from a range of perspectives and approaches, including political, economic, environmental, international and social history. The authors examine the origins of what was defined as an 'oil revolution' by the oil-producing countries, as well as the far-reaching effects of the 'shock' on the Cold War and decolonization, on international energy markets and the global economy. In doing so, they help place the event in its historical context as a key moment in the transformation of the international economy and of North-South relations.

In 1919, the doors of Youngstown's Butler Institute of American Art were opened for the first time. Dubbed "the lighthouse of culture", both the beautiful marble museum and the artwork inside were the gift of 19th-century industrialist Joseph G. Butler, Jr. in what was the crowning achievement of a long and industrious life. From a young age, Butler earned his successes with hard work, a competitive spirit and business savvy. He used these attributes to earn a fortune in the iron and steel industry that was crowded by such figures as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick and Charles Schwab. During his successful business career, Butler also took on politicians, promoted American interests, preserved American history and spearheaded projects to improve his community. To friends and admirers, he was affectionately referred to as "Uncle Joe." This full-length biography chronicles Butler's early life through his impactful career in the iron and steel industry, detailing his contributions to the art world, his philanthropic endeavors and his accomplishments as an author and historian.

Canada's largest and most famous example of class conflict, the Winnipeg General Strike, redefined local, national, and international conversations around class, politics, region, ethnicity, and gender. The Strike's centenary occasioned a re-examination of this critical moment in working-class history, when 300 social justice activists, organizers, scholars, trade unionists, artists, and labour rights advocates gathered in Winnipeg in 2019. Probing the meaning of the General Strike in new and innovative ways, For a Better World includes a selection of contributions from the conference as well as others' explorations of the character of class confrontation in the aftermath of the First World War. Editors Naylor, Hinther, and Mochoruk depict key events of 1919, detailing the dynamic and complex historiography of the Strike and the larger Workers' Revolt that reverberated around the world and shaped the century following the war. The chapters delve into intersections of race, class, and gender. Settler colonialism's impact on the conflict is also examined. Placing the struggle in Winnipeg within a broader national and international context, several contributors explore parallel strikes in Edmonton, Crowsnest Pass, Montreal, Kansas City, and Seattle. For a Better World interrogates types of commemoration and remembrance, current legacies of the Strike, and its ongoing influence. Together, the essays in this collection demonstrate that the Winnipeg General Strike continues to mobilize-revealing our radical past and helping us to think imaginatively about collective action in the future.

A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 'A spirited attempt at uncovering the mystery of how Birmingham has managed for so long to stand at the centre of Britain's history without anyone noticing ... This absorbing book shows us how we did it' Observer 'Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy it' Daily Telegraph For over a century, Birmingham has been the second largest town in England, and central to modern history. In his richly enjoyable new book Richard Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production, full employment and prosperity that began in the 1930s, but which came to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. For most of that time, Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Indeed, much of British history - the passage of the first reform bill, the rise and fall of the Chamberlain dynasty, racial tension - can be explained, in large measure, with reference to Birmingham. Vinen roots his sweeping story in the experience of individuals. This is a book about figures everyone has heard of, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Duran Duran. It is also about those that everyone ought to have heard of - such as Dick Etheridge, the all-powerful Communist convenor at the Longbridge factory, or Stan Crooke, one of the remarkable West Indians interviewed for the 1960s documentary The Colony. It captures the ways in which hundreds of thousands of people - from the Welsh miners who poured into the car factories in the 1930s to the young women who danced to reggae in the basement of Rebecca's nightclub in the 1980s - were caught up in the convulsions of social change. Birmingham is not a pretty place, and its history does not always make for comfortable reading. But modern Britain does not make sense without it. 'There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinen's' Jonathan Coe, Financial Times