Customer Reviews

Engines of Change: the American Industrial Revolution 1790-1860

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This book essentially reads at the level of a mediocre high school textbook, if such a book were written by an undergraduate history major who is destined for work in retail management or real estate. The writing generally comprises a jumble of barely connected facts, boring digressions, second- or third-hand analysis and a writing style greatly in need of a rigorous editor. The authors quickly run out of anything interesting to say about the titular American Industrial Revolution, and eventually move on to a meandering chapter about the London Exhibition of 1851. No reputable university press would have released this work; apparently the Smithsonian Institution has much lower standards. One saving grace is the Suggested Readings section at the end, which will point the reader to many books far more worthy of his or her time than this one.