"Drawing on recent scholarship, the authors review the political and technological conditions that helped to create the Industrial Revolution.Theydescribe the transfer of technology from England to America; the mechanization of agriculture and mining; the construction of roads, canals, and railroads;the nature of machine shops, textile mills, and factories; and the 'American System' of mass production and interchangeable parts.They conclude with discussions of utopian industrial experiments, the London Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, and the future of technological competition with Japan and other nations."(Choice)Bibliography.Index.