English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980

England was the world's first great industrial nation yet, paradoxically, the English have never been comfortable with industrialism. Drawing on a wide array of sources, Martin Wiener explores the English ambivalence towards modern industrial society. His work reveals a pervasive middle- and upper-class frame of mind hostile to industrialism and economic growth. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, this hostility shaped a broad spectrum of cultural expression, including literature, journalism, and architecture, as well as social, historical and economic thought. In this new edition Wiener reflects on the original debate surrounding his work and examines the historiography of the past twenty years.

England was the world's first great industrial nation. Yet the English have never been comfortable with industrialism. Drawing upon a wide array of sources, Martin Wiener explores the English ambivalence to modern industrial society. His work reveals a pervasive middle- and upper-class frame of mind hostile to industrialism and economic growth. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, this frame of mind shaped a broad spectrum of cultural expression, including literature, journalism, and architecture, as well as social, historical, and economic thought. In this edition, Wiener reflects on the original debate surrounding the work and examines the historiography of the last few decades. Written in a graceful and accessible style, with reference to a broad range of people and ideas, this book will be of interest to all readers who wish to understand the development - and predicament - of modern England.

Preface to the first edition; Introduction to the new edition; Part I. The Setting: 1. The Janus face of modern English culture; 2. Victorial society: accommodation and absorption; Part II. A World View: 3. A counterrevolution of values; 4. The 'English way of life'?; 5. The wrong path?; Part III. Toward Behavior: Introduction; 6. Images and politics; 7. The gentrification of the industrialist; Part IV. Industrialism and English Values: 8. An overview and an assessment; Appendix: British retardation - the limits of economic explanation; Notes; Index.

England was the world's first great industrial nation, yet the English have never been comfortable with industrialism. Drawing upon a wide array of sources, Martin Wiener explores the English ambivalence to modern industrial society. In this edition, Wiener revisits the historiography of the last few decades.

Martin J. Wiener is the Mary Jones Professor of History at Rice University. His previous books include Between Two Worlds: The Political Thought of Graham Wallas (1971), Reconstructing the Criminal (Cambridge, 1990), and Men of Blood: Violence, Manliness, and Criminal Justice in Victorian England (Cambridge, 2003).