‘It is impossible to do justice to the subtlety and detail of The Enlightened Economy; it is the product of a lifetime of research and thought, and stands as a landmark work of history’

Trevor Butterworth, Wall Street Journal

What made Western countries become so much wealthier than the rest of the world? What explains the huge rise in incomes during the Industrial Revolution - and why did Britain lead the way?

Joel Mokyr’s landmark history offers a new perspective for understanding Britain’s economic transformation during the Industrial Revolution, showing how intellectual, rather than material, forces were the driving force behind it. While empire, trade, resources and other factors all played a part, it was above all the creative ferment of the Enlightenment that influenced the economic behaviour of thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs and artisans

and took Britain into the modern era.

‘Everyone interested in history should read this great work’

George A. Akerlof, Nobel Laureate and Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley

‘Lucid and elegant

… One of the most interesting though controversial books this year’

Linda Colley, BBC History, Books of the Year

‘A major accomplishment’

Douglass C. North, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics, University of Chicago

‘The best introduction to the British Industrial Revolution’

History Today

‘A splendid achievement’

Edward Glaeser, New Republic