The Age of Improvement, 1783-1867

A History of England #8

by Asa Briggs

With over 80,000 copies sold since its first appearance in 1959, The Age of Improvement has every right to claim the status of a classic of modern historical writing. Asa Briggs' masterly study of the period stresses the underlying unity of the age. In the background are the new economic powers based on the development of a coal and iron technology, in the foreground, the problems posed by the world's first industrial revolution.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Research, Victorian, Reference

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs was an English historian, best known for his studies on the Victorian era. In particular, his trilogy, Victorian People, Victorian Cities, and Victorian Things made a lasting mark on how historians view the nineteenth century. He was made a life peer in 1976.

Reviews

[Vicky P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as sort of a foundational text in the historiography of this general period, but perhaps a pick that's too old and in need of replacing, given my own experience and speaking with my professor. It's a survey work that sort of meanders through years and various political figures and struggles to come to a point or maintain the interest in any meaningful way, unless you as a reader are already intimately familiar with the political figures under discussion. Not a terrible read, but not a great one, either.