This is a comprehensive account of a decisive epoch in England’s economic development by a leading economic historian.

          'Works of economic history often get bogged dwon in figures – so many machines, so much unemployment, often, too, they are histories of technology, not of economic organization. Professor Ashworth goes to the opposite extreme in a most praiseworthy way: his book is actually good to read. Though there are tables of statistics (eleven of them), the book is an essay in interpretation, not an encyclopedia; it enriches our understanding rather than adding to our knowledge.’      A.J.P. Taylor.

CONTENTS:

PART ONE: 1870-1914
I. The Characteristics of the Mid-Victorian Economy
II. The Environment of Economic Change
III. Agriculture
IV. Mining, Manufacture and Building
V. Internal Transport and Trade
VI. External Trade
VII. Money, Banking and Investment
VIII. Labour
IX. The Economic Influence of Government
X. The Course and Outcome of Economic Change

PART TWO: THE FIRST WORLD WAR
XI. War Economy
XII. The Economic Consequences of the War

PART THREE: 1919-1939
XIII. The Opportunities and Difficulties of the Interwar World
XIV. The Chief Economic Activities
XV. Economic Organizations
XVI. Public Policy and its Effects
XVII. The Course and Outcome of Economic Change