The Unbound Prometheus. Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present

The Unbound Prometheus. Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present

David S. Landes
(Translator: Chryssoula Mentzalira)
Scientific editor: Christina Agriantoni
Athens 2009,
624 p.
ISBN 978-960-244-128-2
€ 32.86

This volume, a revised and augmented version of the 1969 edition, is a classic handbook on the history of the Industrial Revolution in the countries of Western and Northern Europe. A series of inventions gradually led to changes and new modes of production in factories. Major innovations include the progressive replacement of human labour by machines, the conversion of heat into a process offering the possibility of an unlimited supply of energy and, lastly, the use of new, cheaper raw materials, as well as minerals.
In a detailed historical introduction, the author examines the evolution of European countries’ production process as of the 17th century; at the same time, he presents the economic as well as the social restructuring that took place, namely regarding the place of workmen and the position of manufacturers in the new work environment. The technological inventions and the mechanization of production initiated in Britain in the second half of the 18th century, progressively penetrated into the other Western European countries over the 19th century. Changes also took place in the financial system, the textile industry, the production and use of iron and steel, while the new forms of energy (i.e. steam and electricity) and the development of the chemical industry were the Industrial Revolution's basic driving forces.