In 1700, Britain was a rural country. By 1850, the year before the Great Exhibition, it was 'the workshop of the world'. This book examines this change, the creation of national markets, and the economic growth which characterized the movement from agriculture to industry. It is useful for anyone studying 18th and 19th century British history.

Superb and wide-ranging survey of a fast changing field. Dr C. J. Schmitz, Lecturer in Modern History, University of St. Andrew's `a timely and largely successful attempt to rehumanize modern British economic history by reintegrating it with its social and political cousins...Daunton's integrative approach is most valuable...style is lucid and lively, and his explanations of even the most arcane institutions and concepts are models of clarity...Postgraduates and specialists should relish both its ambitious scope and its fine tuning.' Economic History Review `This is a lot of book for the money. Well over 600 pages for less than £15 is good value. It is not only volume that one is purchasing but also a quality product. It combines an excellent synthesis of the most recent work on the classic industrial revolution period with the author's own perceptive insights and interconnections...Each chapter is simply and clearly written, making it very accessible to students as well as more widely read scholars, and yet each contains a sophisticated analysis drawing on economic concepts and terms and spelling out mechanisms by which economic relationships occured. Daunton is excellent at explaining complicated issues...the book is greatly to be welcomed. It will be a great boon to students and a good read for scholars. I look forward to volume II' Business History `Daunton has written a work of grand synthesis and sustained argument, which will be read and reread by professionals and students alike. The book is well produced, with convenient notes and excellent bibliographies, and is a signal achievement not least because its author has rescued so many important findings from highly technical studies and made them part of a story told in lucid, attractive prose. Both admirers and critics will want a sequel.' G.F. Steckley, Knox College, Choice, March 1996 Vol.33 No.7

Martin Daunton is Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and President of the Royal Historical Society. He was formerly Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College. He has written extensively on British history since 1700, especially on urban history and economic and social policy, and is the author of Progress and Poverty, which covers the period from 1700 to 1851 and is also published by Oxford University Press.