BEST KNOWN AS THE LEADING HISTORIAN OF FRENCH RAILWAYS, Francois Caron has also conducted significant research on other aspects of economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as electricity, water and steam power, the theory of innovation, and the structure of enterprise. In this volume, he brings together different facets of his expertise to present a broad panorama of modern technological history. Caron shows how artisanal know-how was adapted, expanded, and formalized during the three industrial revolutions that swept over Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, resulting in a comprehensive analysis of this long, complex, and continuous historical process, leading up to the twenty-first century. He thereby illustrates the increasingly fruitful interaction between technological and scientific knowledge in modern times.

First published in 1979, this richly documented study of French development from the early nineteenth century to the present day is of particular imporatnce to students both of history and economics. Francis Caron moves as confidently through the fields of current economic policy and modern economics as he does through the traditional subject matter of French nineteenth-century economic history. His book incorporates the mass of research that has appeared in monograph and periodical form in recent years, making it accessible for the first time to the English-speaking reader.

First published in 1979, this richly documented study of French development from the early nineteenth century to the present day is of particular importance to students both of history and economics. Francis Caron moves as confidently through the fields of current economic policy and modern economics as he does through the traditional subject matter of French nineteenth-century economic history. His book incorporates the mass of research that has appeared in monograph and periodical form in recent years, making it accessible for the first time to the English-speaking reader.

BEST KNOWN AS THE LEADING HISTORIAN OF FRENCH RAILWAYS, Francois Caron has also conducted significant research on other aspects of economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as electricity, water and steam power, the theory of innovation, and the structure of enterprise. In this volume, he brings together different facets of his expertise to present a broad panorama of modern technological history. Caron shows how artisanal know-how was adapted, expanded, and formalized during the three industrial revolutions that swept over Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, resulting in a comprehensive analysis of this long, complex, and continuous historical process, leading up to the twenty-first century. He thereby illustrates the increasingly fruitful interaction between technological and scientific knowledge in modern times.

Francois Caron is Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris IV, where he taught from 1976 to 1998. His many publications include "An Economic History of Modern France" (1979) and "Histoire des chemins de fer en France" (vol 1, 1997; vol 2, 2005).

Allan Mitchell received his PhD from Harvard in 1961, then taught at Smith College (1961-1972) and the University of California, San Diego (1972-1992). His recent book is "The Devil's Captain: Ernst Junger in Nazi Paris, 1941-1944" (Berghahn Books, 2011)."