The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1830 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

"In The Path Not Taken, Jeff Horn argues that - contrary to standard, Anglocentric accounts - French industrialization was not a failed imitation of the laissez-faire British model but the product of a distinctive industrial policy that led, over the long term, to prosperity comparable to Britain's. Despite the upheavals of the Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, France developed and maintained its own industrial strengths. France was then able to take full advantage of the new technologies and industries that emerged in the "second industrial revolution," and by the end of the nineteenth century some of France's industries were outperforming Britain's handily. The Path Not Taken shows that the foundations of this success were laid during the first industrial revolution."--Jacket.