Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Encyclopedia of the Age of the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1920. Edited by Christine Rider. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007. 2 vols. 604 p. $225.00. ISBN 10: 0-313-33503-6; 13: 978-0-313-33503-7.

Students today might consider the Industrial Revolution of little concern and perhaps even minor because our rapidly changing technologies seem to catapult us into new eras and revolutions almost overnight. However, had this Revolution not happened, we would be living in a very different world. The changes people accepted and adopted during this time had major effects on their social life and institutions; these changes were what allowed the Revolution to happen. It is proposed the lack of willingness to make changes in culture, society, and institutions in the so-called developing nations may be the reasons their development is so slow. The major players, major events, and inventions from this era may be passé now, but they identified the progress of this era. Frontmatter includes a listing of primary documents found in the appendix, a guide to related topics, a nine-page chronology. The signed articles have brief bibliographies, and a few black and white photographs illustrate the text. A six-page annotated general bibliography is found in the appendix. These are definitely for the better student, but they are a mother lode of information that any student could use to prepare a research paper on the impact of this Revolution on their lives now and what actions they might suggest to help another less fortunate nation move into a more modern society. Making some assumptions of the changes to be accepted in the future and how to manage this also would be a good critical- thinking activity. Because these volumes cover people, events, industry, religions, political events and laws, among other topics, placing them in their critical time period makes them especially helpful in understanding this age.