England in the Age of Improvement

First published in 1959 as The Age of Improvement, this history of Britain from 1783 to 1867 follows industrialisation, war with France, parliamentary reform, and the making of a Victorian political order. Briggs sets coal, iron, and new towns in the background and, in the foreground, the problems of representation, class, religion, and administration that those changes created. The narrative runs from the younger Pitt through the Reform Acts to the Second Reform Act. The book is a general account of how economic power and political institutions were adjusted in the world's first industrial society, and whether improvement could be kept in balance.

Period illustrations in color & B&W. Blue cloth boards with gilt titles and decoration. Dark blue slipcase with series title in a pale blue panel on the front.