THE INVENTION OF IMPROVEMENT by Paul Slack ( 9780199645916 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

THE INVENTION OF IMPROVEMENT
INFORMATION AND MATERIAL PROGRESS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

By:

Paul Slack

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£58.00

Our price:

£50.75

Discount:

12.5% off

You save:

£7.25

ISBN 10:

0199645914

ISBN 13:

9780199645916

Availability:

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Stock:

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

1 November, 2014

Pages:

336

Description:

Explores the concept of improvement which took root in seventeenth-century England, the political and economic circumstances which led to its rise, the effect it had on the society and culture of England, and its subsequent outreach as the British Empire spread.

Synopsis:

Improvement was a new concept in seventeenth-century England; only then did it become usual for people to think that the most effective way to change things for the better was not a revolution or a return to the past, but the persistent application of human ingenuity to the challenge of increasing the country's wealth and general wellbeing. Improvements in agriculture and industry, commerce and social welfare, would bring infinite prosperity and happiness. The word improvement was itself a recent coinage. It was useful as a slogan summarising all these goals, and since it had no equivalent in other languages, it gave the English a distinctive culture of improvement that they took with them to Ireland and Scotland, and to their possessions overseas. It made them different from everyone else. The Invention of Improvement explains how this culture of improvement came about. Paul Slack explores the political and economic circumstances which allowed notions of improvement to take root, and the changes in habits of mind which improvement accelerated. It encouraged innovation, industriousness, and the acquisition of consumer goods which delivered comfort and pleasure.There was a new appreciation of material progress as a process that could be measured, and its impact was publicised by the circulation of information about it. It had made the country richer and many of its citizens more prosperous, if not always happier. Drawing on a rich variety of contemporary literature, The Invention of Improvement situates improvement at the centre of momentous changes in how people thought and behaved, how they conceived of their environment and their collective prospects, and how they cooperated in order to change them.

Illustrations:

5 black and white figures/illustrations

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press

Prizes:

Winner of Winner of the Samuel Pepys Award 2015.

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

CIVIL HISTORIES (HB)

CRISIS AND ORDER IN ENGLISH TOWNS 1500-1700