Life during the Industrial Revolution: How People lived and worked in new towns and factories

Journeys into the Past

by Richard Tames

Genres: History, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Richard Lawrence Tames (30 January 1946 -) is a British academic, historian, and author.

Tames lectured on history at Syracuse University London and is a Blue Badge guide. He has written over twenty books on different aspects of English history, including Shakespeare’s London on 5 Groats a Day.

Tames is known for bringing the past to life for students and general readers alike. He is also the author of An Armchair Traveller’s History of Oxford and An Armchair Traveller’s History of London.

Reviews

[Andrew Knighton]

A straightforward, easy to read book on the social history of the Industrial Revolution. There's a lot that will be familiar to readers already knowledgeable on the subject, but there are also some interesting and unusual details that will add variety for those readers. I was particularly interested by an anecdote on the treatment of epileptics and the brief section on the Molly Maguires.

[Prakash Yadav]

If you ever feel you haven't enough to appreciate in life, I have just a book for you. This book fills in the gaps in your knowledge you never knew existed. Some fundamental things we do or use today had their origins in the industrial revolution, but did it ever occur to you at what cost was it adopted, and what was the alternative before ?
At what point exactly did people kick around a ball for fun and at what point did we decide that only the goal keeper could touch the ball with her hands ? (And why some might still be amused that I said 'her' hands ?) At what point in time did it become possible to walk into a house and pay for eating food they cooked ? what contraceptives were used before modern day solutions, how safe were they ? how effective ? When was the first jacket made that you could zip up ? At what point in time did one have to qualify an exam to start practicing medicine ? How domestic appliances liberated men to focus on working outside the house for a living and why it burdened the woman to a role of an unpaid domestic help. What people drank and why alcohol was safer than milk or plain simple water ?
This coffee table book gives a bigger picture of where we are and where we come from and perhaps a vision of where we will go, with magnificent illustrations ! Exactly the book you might want to curl up with on your sofa under a lamp.