Lawrence A. Peskin argues that, in accounting for American industrialization, students of the phenomenon have focused mistakenly on large forces and theoretical constructs and on New England and the rise of factories as such. What, he asks, of the ordinary people who considered making things and building shops or small factories to meet the demand they saw? What of the groups and associations that tried to build public support for economic independence from the mother country? "Manufacturing Revolution" explores discussions originating in the Revolutionary era and the course of manufacturing itself-the many years of trial and error, risk and failure, in many places across the early republic. Peskin thus provides a detailed look at labor relations, entrepreneurship, and methods of promoting and financing manufactures. He finds that various social layers had mutual interests and influences; no particular core of business leaders, rising entrepreneurial artisans, or wage laborers alone account for the emergence of manufacturing. The work builds on solid research in both manuscript sources and printed texts from the period between 1750 and 1820. Audience: Historians of the early republic; economic historians; students of technology, business, and industry

A cultural, social, and economic history of early American boosterism, with a fine-grained account of intellectual change on a crucial issue over a long period. -- John E. Crowley, Dalhousie University, author of The Invention of Comfort

About the Author
Lawrence A. Peskin is an associate professor of history at Morgan State University.

Reviews
A short review cannot do justice to everything that Peskin has crammed into a book that should prove of interest to business, cultural, economic, and social historians. Historian 2006 An exceptional study of the actors, events, and especially the ideas that laid the groundwork for industrialization in the early American republic. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 2006 Well-structured and clearly written. History of Education Quarterly 2004 Peskin argues that historians have focused too much attention on the process of the Industrial Revolution without properly considering the men who actually convinced the rest of society to go along for the ride. History: Reviews of New Books 2004 Manufacturing Revolution is an important work that greatly enhances understanding of the events that led to the Industrial Revolution, and scholars with interests ranging from the effects of the American Revolution to the economy of the early republic will profit much by reading it. Enterprise and Society 2004 This book offers strong support for interpreting the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as setting a solid foundation for American manufacturing. Peskin provides valuable documentation that this period witnessed ferment in the debate and promotion of manufacturing. EH.Net 2004 Peskin examines the intellectual foundations of economic growth in the early Republic. Choice 2004



Book Information
ISBN 9780801887505
Author Lawrence A. Peskin
Format Paperback
Page Count 312
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 21mm