Capital And Steam Power

When it appeared in 1923, John Lord’s Capital and Steam Power 1750–1800 was the first book to be based on the voluminous Boultori and Watt papers in Birmingham since the hey-day of Samuel Smiles. Although Lord’s conclusions have been modified and corrected on various points, this book still remains the best short account of the significance of this classic engineering partnership which bulks so large in the history of technology and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. "Mr. Lord’s Capital and Steam Power 1750–1800 is an important contribution to economic history ... His introductory sketch of economic conditions from 1700 to 1750 and his concluding summary of the main results of the developments which he has described, without having the same novelty as his central theme, are scholarly and intelligent." R. H. Tawney, Economica, February, 1924 "His study of the application of steam to industry is a useful piece of research." T. S. Ashton, The Economic Journal, December, 1924

Excerpt from Capital and Steam-Power, 1750-1800 This brief account of the invention of the steam-engine and of its introduction into industry is the result of researches made while I was a Bachelor Scholar of Christ's College, Cambridge. It does not pretend to be a complete account of the state of industry in the eighteenth century, but only deals in detail with such trades as were intimately connected with the steam-engine, and such as early adopted it as a power unit. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

How capitalism first promoted fossil fuels with the rise of steam power The more we know about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels we burn. How did we end up in this mess? In this masterful new history, Andreas Malm claims it all began in Britain with the rise of steam power. But why did manufacturers turn from traditional sources of power, notably water mills, to an engine fired by coal? Contrary to established views, steam offered neither cheaper nor more abundant energy—but rather superior control of subordinate labour. Animated by fossil fuels, capital could concentrate production at the most profitable sites and during the most convenient hours, as it continues to do today. Sweeping from nineteenth-century Manchester to the emissions explosion in China, from the original triumph of coal to the stalled shift to renewables, this study hones in on the burning heart of capital and demonstrates, in unprecedented depth, that turning down the heat will mean a radical overthrow of the current economic order.

When it appeared in 1923, John Lord’s Capital and Steam Power 1750–1800 was the first book to be based on the voluminous Boultori and Watt papers in Birmingham since the hey-day of Samuel Smiles. Although Lord’s conclusions have been modified and corrected on various points, this book still remains the best short account of the significance of this classic engineering partnership which bulks so large in the history of technology and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. "Mr. Lord’s Capital and Steam Power 1750–1800 is an important contribution to economic history ... His introductory sketch of economic conditions from 1700 to 1750 and his concluding summary of the main results of the developments which he has described, without having the same novelty as his central theme, are scholarly and intelligent." R. H. Tawney, Economica, February, 1924 "His study of the application of steam to industry is a useful piece of research." T. S. Ashton, The Economic Journal, December, 1924

"The Most Powerful Idea in the World argues that the very notion of intellectual property drove not only the invention of the steam engine but also the entire Industrial Revolution." -- Back cover.