The political economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) has gained increasing and deserved scholarly attention in recent years. As well as the republication of his works and letters, a rich body of scholarship has been produced that enlightens our understanding of his thoughts and arguments. Yet little has been written on the ways in which his message was translated to, and interpreted by, a popular audience. Malthus first rose to prominence in 1798 with the publication of his Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he blamed rising levels of poverty on the inability of Britain's...

The themes of this study are the exchange rate regimes chosen by policy makers in the twentieth century, the means used to maintain these regimes, and the impact of these decisions on individual national economies and the world economy in general. The book draws heavily on new research showing the lessons and the legacy left for policy makers by the gold standard and the attempt at its resurrection in the 1920s. In examining issues such as the gold exchange standard, the gold bullion standard, the experience of floating exchange rates, the Bretton Woods arrangements, the EMS and the ERM, and...

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the landed estate represented the largest and most clearly defined type of business organisation in existence in pre-industrial England. Given the need for capital, wayleave rights and a ready supply of coal, iron and other raw materials it is unsurprising that most historians tend to place Britain's formative industrial development on such estates where all these elements were available. Yet despite this consensus, relatively little attention has been paid to the management and accountancy practices of these estates, which have the potential to...

Arms and the State is a history of Britain's first and foremost modern armaments company, the Armstrong Whitworth Company, from its origins in 1854 to 1914. It focuses on the role of Sir William G. Armstrong, an engineer and entrepreneur who transformed his modest mechanical engineering business into a vast industrial enterprise which invented, developed, manufactured and sold heavy guns and warships throughout the world. Arms and the State reconstructs the global arms trade as it follows Armstrong's companies selling the latest weapons to both sides in the American Civil War, Egypt, Turkey...

The seaside has always held a special position in British history as a place of rest, relaxation and recuperation. Over the last 200 years many have made their way to the coast, attracted by the long sunshine hours, the clean ozone-charged air and the opportunities for bathing in and even drinking sea-water. Although the early health resort ideal began to give way to more pleasure orientated themes in the nineteenth century, the seaside holiday was still regarded by many as a wholesome and invigorating break from inland urban life well into the twentieth century. Yet with ever increasing...

For the first time since its invention over 500 years ago, the print medium is being challenged as the primary means of recording and communicating ideas. Indeed, within the printing industry itself the advent of digital technology has rendered the craft of hand setting metal type obsolete - the days of the skilled compositor are now at an end. Patrick Duffy’s work sets out to examine the experiences of the skilled compositor in the period 1850 to 1914. Focusing primarily on the workplace and the workplace institutions, it aims to explore issues of control, co-operation and conflict in...