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Publisher: Greenwood Press, Westport, CT and London, 2007, £125/$225.
ISBN: 978 0 313 33501 3. 2 vols
This book is not merely about the "first Industrial Revolution" nor does it concern only "technological changes and their application to industry" (p. ix). Its subject matter is the "long" Industrial Revolution (which continues up until the present day, is global in scope and includes the development of information technology). The focus of the encyclopaedia is the period from 1700 to 1920 on the grounds that the eighteenth century is the era of the First Industrial Revolution and that yet a new industrial revolution began in 1920 when Ernest Rutherford split the atom. The encyclopaedia also considers the broader ramifications of the Industrial Revolution, including the ways in which it influenced "the social, political, diplomatic, and economic aspects of life" (p. ix).
The body of the encyclopaedia consists of over 150 entries by 65 contributors who are mainly, although not exclusively, from American academic institutions. The entries are arranged alphabetically...