Books in the New Studies in Economic and Social History series

A comprehensive survey of the history of British science and technology since 1870 in relation to economic performance.

This concise volume reviews the literature on population history, and explains the different population trends evident in parts of Britain and Ireland. It examines the sometimes complex interactions between fertility, nuptiality, morality and migration, touching on a wide range of topics including plague, illegitimacy, and emigration to America.

This concise survey for students examines the consequences of periods of dearth in England, in the years between 1550 and 1800. It reviews the enormous volume of literature that has been generated on the subject, explaining connections between serious harvest failure and a marked increase in rioting, and examines government responses to this.

This concise textbook tackles the ongoing argument over Britain's apparent economic decline. The author examines British economic development within a political, social and cultural framework, and his clear analysis demonstrates how complex and deep-rooted are the causes of the 'British Disease'.

The poor law had a profound impact, playing a central role in social and political development from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution. This book provides a concise synthesis of past scholarly work, explaining the origins and effects of this unique system of welfare.

This book offers a clear and concise introduction to the history of British universities. It provides a unique general account of their development, covering all parts of the British Isles, and relates the history of the universities to general questions about British social and economic performance. A comprehensive bibliography for further study is provided.

In this book, Dr Sanderson reviews the history of education in the nineteenth century and the academic debates surrounding it. As this study shows, the education system could be highly responsive in some areas and yet insensitive in others to the far-reaching economic and social advances of the first industrial Revolution.

This book, first published in 1995, is a clear guide to the debates surrounding British social history between 1850 and 1914. It gives an account of how interpretations in the field have developed since the 1960s and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

This book provides a clear interpretation of the causes of demographic change in Britain in the nineteenth century. It combines an examination of migration, marriage patterns, fertility and mortality with a guide to the sources of population data available to historians and demographers.

This book is an important survey of the new evidence and arguments regarding road transport over the past three centuries. It sheds new light on the importance of horse-drawn freight in the eighteenth century, offsets the undue attention paid to the railways in the nineteenth century, and stresses that motor transport's present great importance only dates from the 1950s.

A succinct account of changes in children's work and welfare between 1780 and 1890. It examines some of the debates which have attached themselves to those changes and discusses the role of the state and of philanthropic organisation in bringing about change.

Examines Italy's transformation from a largely rural state in the nineteenth century to today's industrial powerhouse. Jon Cohen and Giovanni Federico provide a concise, up-to-date survey of the process of economic development, highlighting new views on old issues, and signalling areas in need of further research.

This book explores the relevance of the politics of the Weimar Republic to its economic history. It traces the origins, political fragility and eventual destruction of the unstable government of interwar Germany. An indispensable guide to an extremely significant period in European economic history.

This book presents a concise survey of the Spanish economy from the end of the Civil War of 1936-9 to the present. It analyses the transformation of Spain from a backward agrarian economy - committed by Franco to the quest of self-sufficiency - to a modern, rapidly growing, outwardly orientated economy.

Why did 60 million people leave Europe for overseas destinations between 1815 and 1930, and what were the social and economic implications of this mass migration? This short comprehensive survey for students answers these and other questions regarding the emigration from different parts of Europe.

A concise and accessible introduction to the various issues and debates surrounding women and their position in medieval society. Professor Mate examines the role women played in the economy, clarifies the legal provisions for women and highlights the importance of class, as well as gender, in determining marriage and opportunities.

This textbook, first published in 2000, covers all forms of protest, including the Gordon Riots of 1780, food riots, Luddism, the radical political reform movement, anti-enclosure, anti-New Poor Law riots, and arson, up to the advent of Chartism in the 1830s. John E. Archer provides a concise and up-to-date introduction to this crucial topic.

A useful and accessible survey of changes in British health, health services and health policy in the years during and since World War II. Examining the rise and decline of the NHS, Virginia Berridge presents students with an authoritative analysis.

This 1995 book is a concise and lucid review of the strengths and weaknesses of the British motor industry since its formation. Placing the industry firmly in a European context, the author assesses its achievements before 1960, and tests the various explanations which have been offered to explain its decline over the previous thirty years.

This book provides an up-to-date introduction to one of the great disasters of the nineteenth century. Cormac O'Grada's concise survey places the Famine of 1846-50 in the context of the Irish economy, assesses the Famine itself, and discusses its many consequences, suggesting that a less doctrinaire attitude to famine relief could have saved many lives.

This concise 1995 study for students shows how British agriculture was affected by and reacted to international competition in the period after 1870, an era of growing world food surpluses. The author surveys the most recent research in the field and outlines the major areas of controversy among scholars.

Since the 1870s the British economy has steadily declined from its position as the 'workshop of the world' to that of a low-ranking European power. Michael Sanderson offers a concise and accessible analysis of the question of how far defects in education and training have contributed to this economic decline.

The Industrial Revolution in Scotland is an accessible account describing the nature and impact of early industrialisation, not only in the towns of the Borders and in Dundee, but also in the Highlands and Islands. The social and economic causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution are also considered.

This 2002 book gives a historical and comparative perspective on family business, examining through time the different relationships within family businesses and among family enterprises. It discusses the reasons for both the decline and persistence of family business, its historical evolution, and its contribution to the growth of single economies.

This book provides an incisive overview of Japanese economic history between 1868 and 1941. It introduces and surveys the current state of scholarship on Japan, touching upon almost all elements of the Japanese historical experience. A select bibliography (now updated to 1994) is provided, to help the reader pursue the subject in more detail.

Historians have long disputed whether English towns were in decline in the period 1400-1640. This book reviews the literature of the controversy, guides the reader through it, and adds new insights derived from the author's own research. This is a book both for students beginning the study of the subject and for their teachers.

This textbook surveys the spectacular transformation that the French economy has undergone over the past century. It offers a general introduction to the long-term as well as more recent transformations of the French economy and surveys the major themes associated with French economic development: exceptionalism, Malthusianism and statism.

This is a succinct survey of the history of the American west. Focusing on issues of land use, environment, race, ethnicity, gender, business and the development of communities, the book examines the dynamics and progress of recent scholarship. It will prove invaluable for all students of American history.

In the course of the first half of the twentieth century, the USSR was transformed from a predominantly agrarian country into a major industrial power. This authoritative survey charts the bumpy Russian road to industrialisation and, using material from Russian archives opened since 1991, discusses the major controversies.

This book provides the first introductory, comparative account of the rise of giant business corporations in America and Europe in the century before the Second World War. It discusses the evolution of firms like Ford, Exxon, Unilever and Siemens, as well introducing the major explanations that have been advanced in order to account for these development in the global economic order.