The authors use a long-wave framework to examine the historical evolution of British industrial capitalism since the late-18th century, and present a challenging and distinctive economic history of modern and contemporary Britain.

Introduction: theories of industrial capitalism and the long wave: a neo- Schumpetern approach PART I The first Kondratieff The Industrial Revolution Kondratieff: the structural balance of the economy; The road to free trade and the crisis of industrial capitalism c. 1815 to 1840s PART II The second Kondratieff Britain as the workshop of the world: the supremacy of manufacturing in mid-Victorian Britain; The faltering industrial economy: a Kondratieff in the late Victorian period PART III The third Kondratieff Chandler's critique of British industrial capitalism: the legacy of the small manufacturing firm examined; Business and the State: industry in the Great Depression PART IV The fourth Kondratieff The long boom: British manufacturing success or failure c. 1950--73; De-industrialization: the manufacturing base and the Thatcher experimen.