Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World 1776-1914

In this vivid, sweeping history of the industrial revolution, Gavin Weightman shows how, in less than one hundred and fifty years, an unlikely band of scientists, spies, entrepreneurs, and political refugees took a world made of wood, powered by animals, wind, and water, and made it into something entirely new, forged of steel and iron, and powered by steam and fossil fuels. Weightman weaves together the dramatic stories of giants such as Edison, Watt, Wedgwood, and Daimler, with lesser-known or entirely forgotten characters, including a group of Japanese samurai who risked their lives to learn the secrets of the West, and John “Iron Mad” Wilkinson, who didn’t let war between England and France stop him from plumbing Paris. Distilling complex technical achievements, outlandish figures, and daring adventures into an accessible narrative that spans the globe as industrialism spreads, The Industrial Revolutionaries is a remarkable work of original, engaging history.

• The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution
• The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
• Industry and Empire: The Birth of the Industrial Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution in World History
• Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000-1700
• Energy: A Human History
• The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (New Approaches to Economic and Social History)
• The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
• The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy
• The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government