| Behind the familiar concept of Victorian Britain as the workshop of the world lies a complex story of invention, achievement and unfailing optimism. L.T.C. Rolt, author of distinguished biographies of Brunel, the Stephensons and Telford, has produced a lively and wide ranging survey of the revolutionary engineering feats in Victoria's reign. It is a survey which combines the fascination of individual achievement – Stephensons Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits; Paxtons design for the crystal Palace; the Severn Tunnel; the London sewage system, - with the crucial questions of how industrialisation takes place and how it changes its environment. Finally, Rolt tackles the problem of why, after the years of success, the Victorians apparently suffered a loss of nerve; financial support became more hesitant and many of the innovations of British Engineering found their best expression in other countries. The Victorians, he argues, failed to come to terms with the consequences of industrialisation, a failure we have perpetutated. Contents:
- Foreword to the 2007 Edition
- Introduction
- 1 – The Railway Engineers
- 2 – Men of Steam
- 3 – Smoke over the Sea
- 4 – The Engineer and the Farmer
- 5 – The Workshop of the World
- 6 – High Noon in Hyde Park
- 7 – The Age of Steel
- 8 – New Lamps for Old
- 9 – Civil Engineering After 1860
- 10 – The Shape of Things to Come
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Continent: Europe
Country: UK |
