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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Industrial history
From the moment governments began making money from levying duty on imported goods, a smuggling trade developed to avoid paying such taxes. Whilst the popular image of historic smuggling remains a romantic one, this book makes clear that the illicit trade could be a large-scale and systematic business that relied on the connivance of well-connected merchants. Taking the port of Bristol as a case study, the book provides the most sophisticated historical study ever undertaken of the smugglers' trade, in England or abroad. Following on from the author's prize-winning article in Economic History Review, the volume employs the business accounts of sixteenth-century merchants to reconstruct their illicit operations. It presents a detailed analysis of the merchants' illegal businesses, assessing how individual merchants, and Bristol's commercial class, were able to protect their contraband trade. More fundamentally, it examines how and why the illicit trade developed, why the Crown was unable to suppress it, and the role smuggling played within Bristol's wider economy. Through an investigation of these matters the study explores a world that has long attracted popular interest, but which has always been assumed to be immune to serious historical investigation. The book offers a pioneering study, demonstrating that a detailed examination of a particular time and place, based on a close and integrated reading of both official and private records, can make it possible for historians to investigate illicit economies to a greater degree than has previously been believed possible.
Visit the book website Longshoremen stand at the nexus of the global economy, handling nearly every cargo container that enters or leaves any country. Even in the face of cargo acontainerizationa in the 70s and 80s, a development that decimated longshore unions, they have managed to win contracts that provide health benefits and high wages. On the Global Waterfront tells the story of how longshoremen in South Carolina confronted attempts to wipe out the stateas most powerful black organization. When a Danish shipping company began to shift their transportation to a nonunion firm in 1999, Local 1422 in Charleston, South Carolina, mobilized to protect their hard-won rights. What followed culminated in a protest in which 660 riot police were deployed against fifty dockworkers, a group that grew to 150 before the night was over. Four black and one white longshoreman -- subsequently known as the Charleston 5 -- were held for twenty months under house arrest on trumped-up felony charges of inciting a riot. Within the politically conservative, racially charged, and intensely religious climate of the South, the unassuming local union president, Ken Riley -- supported behind the scenes by a militant AFL-CIO staffer -- crafted an international, grassroots campaign in defense of the arrested longshoremen. From Australia to Europe to Korea to the entire west coast of the United States, longshoremen threatened to shut down ports jeopardizing billions of dollars in trade per day. Their ultimate success vaulted Riley, and his reform-minded coworkers, to higher leadership in a notoriously corrupt union, and laid the foundation for successful rebuffs in ports around the world. On the GlobalWaterfront explores in detail a local conflict and in the process exposes the powers that rule the United States and the global economy. This compelling narrative of a local struggle, a transformed union leader, and a newly energized international worker movement highlights the resounding importance of the international labor movement that is not only still vital, but still capable of stopping global commerce on a dime.
A history of the rise of industrialism in modern Europe, containing a description of the revolutionary changes which transformed industry, commerce and agriculture at the beginning of the last century, with an account of their reactions on the political and economic condition of the chief European nations. The social problems created by this momentous revolution are discussed in detail, and a historical survey is given of the various attempts to correct the evils of industrialism, on the one hand through state intervention by means of poor laws, factory laws, schemes of social insurance, etc., and on the other through voluntary effort as manifested in movements like trade unionism, co-operation, profit sharing and co-partnership. Post-war developments such as the Russian Revolution and international labour legislation are also described in detail and depth. This book was first published in 1930.
The Chinese economy has been the subject of substantial research in recent years in the United States and abroad. Much has been made of significant strides toward industrial development since the Communist takeover. But it is impossible to understand what has been achieved unless one measures these gains against economic events in the pre-Communist period. This book offers a record of China's industrialization, with its comprehensive statistical analysis of the industrial growth of pre-Communist China. "Industrial Development in Pre-Communist China" covers the period from 1912 to 1949 and deals with all of China irrespective of changes in political boundaries. For purposes of this study, ""industrial production"" includes mining, metallurgy, manufacturing, and fuel and power; the construction industry is not included. Chang finds that the average annual rate of growth of the modern industrial sector during the pre-World War I period was about 8 or 9 percent, including Manchuria. During the period from 1928 to 1936, under the Nanking Government, political unification was achieved. Peace and order were maintained and the necessary foundations for economic transformation in the post-World War II period were established. At the time of its original publication in 1969, Chang's work represented an important first step toward a comprehensive, quantitative study of the history of China's industrialization and a benchmark against which the Communist achievement can be measured, this work forces reconsideration of widely held views on China's economic and industrial development. An important reference for the study of Chinese history and economics, especially for the Republican period, Chang's work is of continuing value to all Sinologists and to specialists in economic development and economic history.
The ideal gift for railway enthusiasts Covering the period from 1948 to 1996, The Times End of the Line chronologically traces the history of more than 400 long forgotten railway lines, region by region, from their opening to closure and a few cases to reopening. For such a small country, Britain once possessed one of the most extensive rail networks in the world which, by the outbreak of the First World War, it had reached a peak of 23,440 route miles. Two world wars and nationalisation of the railways brought about significant closures. Then on 27 March 1963 Dr Richard Beeching's report, The Reshaping of British Railways, was published. This was the final nail in the coffin for Britain's railways which eventually brought closure over the following years to a further 4,500 route miles, 2,500 stations and the loss of 67,700 jobs. This comprehensive guide will be illustrated with regional maps and rare archive photographs, transporting the reader back to the era of steam when railways still played an important role in daily life.
A comprehensive study of the occupational health of employed children within the broader context of social, industrial and environmental change between 1780 and 1850. Historians have long recognised the importance of child health during the Industrial Revolution, but few have explored the health of working children in any analytical detail. In this comprehensive study, Peter Kirby places the occupational health of employed children within a broad context of social, industrial and environmental change during the period 1780 to 1850. The book explores the deformities, fevers, respiratory complaints, industrial injuries and physical ill-treatment which have long been associated with child labour in the factory workplace. The result is a more nuanced picture of child health and child labour during the classic 'factory age' which raises important questions about the enduring stereotype of the health-impaired and abused industrial child. Peter Kirby is Professor of Social History and Director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Since the beginnings of the oil industry, production activity has been governed by the 'law of capture, ' dictating that one owns the oil recovered from one's property even if it has migrated from under neighboring land. This 'finders keepers' principle has been excoriated by foreign critics as a 'law of the jungle' and identified by American commentators as the root cause of the enormous waste of oil and gas resulting from US production methods in the first half of the twentieth century. Yet while in almost every other country the law of capture is today of marginal significance, it continues in full vigour in the United States, with potentially wasteful results. In this richly documented account, Terence Daintith adopts a historical and comparative perspective to show how legal rules, technical knowledge (or the lack of it) and political ideas combined to shape attitudes and behavior in the business of oil production, leading to the original adoption of the law of capture, its consolidation in the United States, and its marginalization elsewhere.
This collection brings together published papers on key themes which book historians have identified as of particular significance in the history of twentieth-century publishing. It reprints some of the best comparative perspectives and most insightful and innovatively presented scholarship on publishing and book history from such figures as Philip Altbach, Lewis Coser, James Curran, Elizabeth Long, Laura Miller, Angus Phillips, Janice Radway, Jonathan Rose, Shafquat Towheed, Catherine Turner, Jay Satterfield, Clare Squires, Eva Hemmungs Wirten. It is arranged into six sections which examine the internationalisation of publishing businesses, changing notions of authorship, innovation in the design and marketing of books, the specific effects of globalisation on creative property and the book in a multimedia marketplace. Twentieth-century book history attracts an audience beyond the traditional disciplines of librarianship, bibliography, history and literary studies. It will appeal to publishing educators, editors, publishers, booksellers, as well as academics with an interest in media and popular culture.
This selection of papers by major scholars introduces students to the history of the book in the West from late Antiquity to the publication of the Gutenberg Bible and the beginning of the print revolution. The collection opens with wide-ranging papers on handwriting and the physical make-up of the book. In the second group of papers the emphasis is on the 'look' of the book, complemented by a third group dealing with scribes, readers and the availability of books. The editors' introduction provides an overview of the medieval book.
This collection of published papers on the development of the publishing cycle from author to reader includes work by many of the leading authorities on the history of the book in the nineteenth century, including James Barnes, Simon Eliot, Kate Flint, Elizabeth McHenry, Robert Patten, David Vincent and Ronald Zboray. It contains examples of different approaches, reflecting the fact that scholars come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, such as bibliography, typography, literary studies, library studies and the history of science. The introduction provides an overview of both the historical context and recent work on the subject. The volume is divided into five sections: National Publishing Structures in America, France, and Russia; International Trade; Publishing Practices; Distribution; Reading. The collection includes work in the tradition of French book history which has focussed on the systems and structures of the publishing industry and Anglo-American book history characterised by detailed analyses of the publication of a specific title or the practices of an individual reader.
In the years prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the leaders of the German Democratic Republic planned to construct a city center that was simultaneously modern and historical, consisting of both redesign of old buildings and new architectural developments. Drawing from recently released archival sources and interviews with former key government officials, decision-makers and architects, this book sheds light not only on this unique programme in postmodern design, but also on the debates which were taking place with the Socialist government.
Winner of the Jerry Bentley Prize in World History (American Historical Association). Award-winning historian Priya Satia presents a new history of the Industrial Revolution that positions war and the gun trade squarely at the heart of the rapid growth of technology and Britain's imperial expansion. Satia's thorough examination advances a radical new understanding of the historical roots of the violent partnership between the government, military and the economy. Sweeping in its scope and entirely original in its approach, Empire of Guns illuminates Britain's emergence as a global superpower in a clear and novel light. Reviews of Empire of Guns: 'A fascinating study of the centrality of militarism in 18th-century British life, and how imperial expansion and arms went hand in hand... This book is a triumph.' Guardian 'A fascinating and important glimpse into how violence fueled the industrial revolution, Priya Satia's book stuns with deep scholarship and sparkling prose.' Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies 'Fascinating.' New York Times 'A strong narrative bolstered by excellent archival research... tremendous scholarship.' Booklist 'Boldly uncovers a history of modern violence and its central role in political, economic, and technological progress. As unsettling as it is bracing.' Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger 'A solid contribution to the history of technology and commerce, with broad implications for the present.' Kirkus
In this study, Emily Byrne Curtis explores as her subject lenses, spectacles, aventurine glass, and windows found in China from the sixteenth century. She traces their technological development back to the glassworks in Murano, Venice, and explores their significance in terms of Venice's commerce with China. Because glassware also figured among the gifts which three papal legates from the Vatican presented to the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors, the author examines many documents from the archives in Rome and the Vatican; the study therefore touches, to an extent, on the history of the Catholic Church in China. Curtis also discusses in the volume some contemporary Chinese references and verses to European glassware, and in the case of enamel materials, she discloses the pronounced effect their use had upon the decor of Chinese porcelains.
This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the ground-breaking historic industrial complex created to the west of Birmingham in the eighteenth century and associated with Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch. The Soho Manufactory (1761-1863) and Soho Mint (1788-1850s) were both situated in the historic parish of Handsworth, now in the city of Birmingham, and the Soho Foundry (1795-1895) lay in the historic township of Smethwick, now within Sandwell Metropolitan Borough. Together they played a key role in the Industrial Revolution , achieving many world 'firsts': the first working Watt steam engine, the first steam-engine powered mint and the first purpose-built steam engine manufactory (the Soho Foundry), to name but a few. Existing literature focuses largely on the biography of the people, primarily Boulton and Watt, or the products they manufactured. The place - the Soho complex - has attracted very little attention. This volume is the first to concentrate on the buildings themselves analysing not only their physical origins, development and eventual decline but also the water and steam power systems adopted. An interdisciplinary approach has been employed combining archival research in the magnificent Soho collection at the Library of Birmingham with the results of archaeological excavations. The volume is profusely illustrated with archival material, most published for the first time, and contains a large number of reconstruction plans and drawings by the author.
On February 4, 1986, the lives of thousands of workers changed in ways they could only begin to imagine. On that day, United Technologies Corporation ordered the closure of the 76-year-old American Bosch manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, capping a nearly 32-year history of job loss and work relocation from the sprawling factory. The author, a former Bosch worker and the business agent for the union representing nearly 1,200 Bosch employees when the plant closed, interjects his personal recollections into the story.For more than 150 years Springfield stood at the center of a prosperous 200-mile industrial corridor along the Connecticut River, between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Springfield, Vermont, populated with hundreds of machine tool and metalworking plants and thousands of workers. This book is a historical account of the profound economic collapse of the Connecticut River Valley region, with a particular focus on Bosch, its workers, and its union. The shutdown is placed in the context of the wider region's deindustrialization. The closure marked the watershed for large-firm metalworking and metalworking unions in the Connecticut River Valley. The book also describes how the United States, in a ten-year period from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, went from being the world's leading exporter of machine tools to its leading importer, and how that sharp decline affected the region's leading city, Springfield, Massachusetts, which by 2005 was in danger of bankruptcy.
An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library. This book informs debates about worker participation in the workplace or worker voice by analysing comparative historical data relating to these ideas during the inter-war period in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. The issue is topical because of the contemporary shift to a workplace focus in many countries without a corresponding development of infrastructure at the workplace level, and because of the growing 'representation gap' as union membership declines. Some commentators have called for the introduction of works councils to address these issues. Other scholars have gone back and examined the experiences with the non-union Employee Representation Plans (ERPs) in Canada and the US. This book will test these claims through examining and comparing the historical record of previous efforts of five countries during a rich period of experimentation between the Wars. In addition to ERPs, the book expands the debate will by examining union-management co-operation, Whitley works committees and German works councils.
In this holistic approach to the study of textiles and their makers, Colleen Kriger charts the role cotton has played in commercial, community, and labor settings in West Africa. By paying close attention to the details of how people made, exchanged, and wore cotton cloth from before industrialization in Europe to the twentieth century, she is able to demonstrate some of the cultural effects of Africa's long involvement in trading contacts with Muslim societies and with Europe. Cloth in West African History thus offers a fresh perspective on the history of the region and on the local, regional, and global processes that shaped it. A variety of readers will find its account and insights into the African past and culture valuable, and will appreciate the connections made between the local concerns of small-scale weavers in African villages, the emergence of an indigenous textile industry, and its integration into international networks.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2021 Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2021 Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Crown 2021 'Fabulous' - The Times 'A milestone in women's history' - Observer 'Groundbreaking ... a fascinating read' - Herald In Britain today, three-quarters of mothers are in employment and paid work is an unremarkable feature of women's lives after childbirth. Yet a century ago, working mothers were in the minority, excluded altogether from many occupations, whilst their wage-earning was widely perceived as a social ill. In Double Lives, Helen McCarthy accounts for this remarkable transformation and the momentous consequences it has had for Britain. Recovering the everyday worlds of working mothers, this groundbreaking history forces us not only to re-evaluate the past, but to ask anew how current attitudes towards mothers in the workplace have developed and how far we have to go. 'Impressive and nuanced' - Guardian 'Brilliant' - Literary Review
In the decades following World War II, factories in many countries not only provided secure employment and a range of economic entitlements, but also recognized workers as legitimate stakeholders, enabling them to claim rights to participate in decision making and hold factory leaders accountable. In recent decades, as employment has become more precarious, these attributes of industrial citizenship have been eroded and workers have increasingly been reduced to hired hands. As Joel Andreas shows in Disenfranchised, no country has experienced these changes as dramatically as China. Drawing on a decade of field research, including interviews with both factory workers and managers, Andreas traces the changing political status of workers inside Chinese factories from 1949 to the present, carefully analyzing how much power they have actually had to shape their working conditions.
This book considers how workplace democracy can broaden and deepen the democratisation process in Africa. It encompasses many countries including: Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The book's main argument is that democracy can only survive if it is participatory, that participatory democracy is a necessary condition for sustainable development, and that trade unions are ideally placed to contribute to the democratisation of the economy. The book is organised in three parts. Part 1 sets the background of the research and the underlying theory. Part 2 presents the learning experiences within different countries. The concluding Part 3 considers the broad implications of the research findings for policy making on democratic participation, with a particular emphasis on the role of trade unions.
Until recently, historians tended to stress the perceived technological and ecological shortcomings of medieval agriculture. The ten essays assembled in this volume offer a contrary view. Based upon close documentary analysis of the demesne farms managed for and by lords, they show that, by 1300, in the most commercialized parts of England, production decisions were based upon relative factor costs and commodity prices. Moreover, when and where economic conditions were ripe and environmental and institutional circumstances favourable, medieval cultivators successfully secured high and ecologically sustainable levels of land productivity. They achieved this by integrating crop and livestock production into the sort of manure-intensive systems of mixed-husbandry which later underpinned the more celebrated output growth of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. If medieval agriculture failed to fulfill the production potential provided by wider adoption of such systems, this is more appropriately explained by the want of the kind of market incentives that might have justified investment, innovation, and specialization on the scale that characterized the so-called 'agricultural revolution', than either the lack of appropriate agricultural technology or the innate 'backwardness' of medieval cultivators.
The most flamboyant, consistently dishonest racketeer was Supervisor of Internal Revenue John McDonald, whose organization defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars. When President Grant was asked why he appointed McDonald supervisor of internal revenue he responded, "I was aware that he was not an educated man, but he was a man that had seen a great deal of the world and of people, and I would not call him ignorant exactly, he was illiterate." McDonald organized and ran the Whiskey Ring but he always credited Grant with the initiation of the Ring declaring that the president "actually stood god-father at its christening." The demise of the Ring rivals anything that the real or fictional Elliot Ness and his "Untouchables" ever accomplished during the prohibition era in America.
Explains the astonishing growth of Middlesbrough from a hamlet to a very substantial town in the space of a few decades in the middle of the nineteenth century. Middlesbrough's rise was truly extraordinary, from almost nothing in 1850 to a great industrial city within a few decades, its success based on iron and steel. This book examines the development. It discusses the role of urban planners, charts the growth of the iron and steel industry including the introduction of new manufacturing techniques and the exploitation of important local iron ore deposits, and explores the role of a vast range of self-helpinstitutions through which workers supported themselves at a time when aid from the state was minimal. It shows how industries "clustered", explaining why Middlesbrough became the hub of such a cluster; outlines the demographic nature of the workforce, showing how there was much migration, with people coming to Middlesbrough to work for a while then leaving; and concludes by examining the adverse factors which quickly became apparent, some of whichwere to lead to Middlesbrough's decline - over-dependence on one industry, a relatively undiversified economic and social structure, and insufficient urban infrastructure which left the city vulnerable to debilitating environmental pollution. MINORU YASUMOTO is a Professor in the Faculty of Economics at Komazawa University, Japan.
In this biography, author and scholar Harold C. Livesay examines the life and legacy of Andrew Carnegie, one of the greatest captains of industry and philanthropists in the history of the United States. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each of the titles in the "Library of American Biography Series" focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. In addition, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times. |
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