Excerpt: Myth of the Month 26: The Industrial Revolution -- pt. 2: Spinning the National Yarn
Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrongShow Notes
For patrons only for 1 year: We trace how the notion of the “industrial revolution” – originally a foreign, Continental idea rooted in German dialectical history – entered into British political discourse and then into sacred national mythology, enshrined by the tourism industry and by Thatcherite politics. Then we examine the evolving debate over whether the alleged revolution was a good or a bad thing—or whether such an event happened at all, considering its narrow limitations in time, space, and scope. Finally, we weigh carefully the arguments that have been advanced in defense of the traditional myth, including the explosive growth of British cities, the wide divergence between Europe and the rest of the world, and the appearance of so-called “proto-industrialization” in the organization of labor before the rise of machines.
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Image: Museum of Sciene and Industry, Manchester, England, UK
Suggested further reading: Books: Kenneth Pomeranz, “The Great Divergence”; D.C. Coleman, “Myth, History, and the Industrial Revolution”; Eric Hobsbawm, “Industry and Empire: An Economic History of Britain Since 1750” Articles: Fores, “The Myth of a British Industrial Revolution,” History, 1981; Cameron, “A New View of European Industrialization,” The Economic History Review, Feb. 1985; Quataert, “A New View of Industrialization,” International Labor and Working-Class History, Spring 1988; Razzell, “The Growth of Population in Eighteenth-Century England: A Critical Reappraisal,” Journal of Economic History, Dec. 1993; Davenport, “Mortality, migration and epidemiological change in English cities, 1600-1870,” International Journal of Paleopathology, June 2021
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