There have been many factors, which in my opinion are broadly in conformity with a framework of historical materialism, but it should also be said that the English have been lucky.
Randomness is part of a pattern of probability. Chris Burford Quoting Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Leandro Prados de la Escosura, ed. Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: > Britain and Its European Rivals, 1688-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University > Press, 2004. xv + 335 pp. Tables, figures, bibliography, index. No price > listed (cloth), ISBN 0-521-79304-1. > Reviewed by: Andrew Hann, Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester. > Published by: H-HistGeog (December, 2004) > Europe's Industrialization Compared > > This collection of essays, assembled to honor the distinguished career of > Patrick O'Brien, began as a series of papers delivered at a March 2001 > conference in Madrid. The volume brings together some of Europe's leading > economic historians to address the enduring question of British > exceptionalism in the period 1688-1815. It examines why during this period > Britain emerged from comparative obscurity to "a discernible position of > hegemony in the domains of naval power, empire, global commerce, > agricultural efficiency, industrial production, fiscal capacity and > advanced technology" (p. i). The contributors' stated intention is to > produce a "textschrift" that will make these debates accessible to "a > larger audience of university students and non-specialist readers," and in > this respect they are at least partially successful (p. xv). Key arguments > are sketched out clearly in a readable style that will appeal to a wide > audience. The assembled papers provide a good overview of current > scholarship in the field, and highlight the variety of approaches that have > been used. At the same time contributors have been given some latitude to > introduce original research, so the volume is also a platform for taking > the debate forward, while the extensive bibliography will prove useful for > those who wish to trace the development of this debate in greater detail. > > full: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=80051105032296 > > -- > > www.marxmail.org > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
