The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830

It is certainly rare. to find, as in Professor Ashton's work, a combination of neatly summarized research, lively humanity, stimulating generalization, bread-and-butter fact, and an unfailing sense of perspective, all embodied in prose of unmistakable, though entirely unpretentious, quality. It is a pleasure to be able to recommend a book, whether to the student or to the general reader, so entirely without reservation. Few accounts of the great inventions leave the unmechanical reader with any genuine understanding of the problems and solutions involved. This one does. -The Economist