Ashton, T.S. (FML)

Ashton, T.S. The Industrial Revolution. Oxford University press. 1948. 167 pp.

For at least a century (in part under the influence of Karl Marx) most of the economic historians have portrayed the Industrial Revolution as a catastrophe which caused the working class untold misery and brought about a sort of economic and spiritual Age of Darkness. In this remarkable little book Dr. Ashton, professor of economic history at the University of London, with more careful scholarship presents the Industrial Revolution as what it was - an achievement which, through the application of science to industry and the increased use of capital, led not only to a rapid growth of population but to a rise in the real incomes of a considerable section of the working class. Dr, Ashton stresses the intellectual and economic as well as the technical aspects of the movement. (See also his contribution to Capitalism and the Historians, listed under F.A. Hayek.)

BK: OK, it will be a little while before we get to Hayek, but we will get there.