Explore how England built its modern industrial world, tracing how people earned their living from the countryside to the factory floor.
This clear, accessible history connects farming, towns, and great industries to the legal and economic changes that shaped daily life.
The book surveys the long arc from medieval landholding to the Industrial Revolution, showing who worked the land, how open-field farming gave way to enclosure, and how credit and trade transformed the economy. It explains why the working class is central to industrial history and what changes in policy, technology, and commerce meant for ordinary people.
- How the manor, the village, and the open-field system influenced work and wealth
- The rise of towns, guilds, banking, and the factory system
- How enclosure, poverty, and social change intersected with economic progress
- Connections between agricultural change, urban growth, and imperial expansion
Ideal for readers of history, economics, and social studies who want a grounded view of England’s ascent through industrial change.