Food, Energy and the Creation of Industriousness

Synopsis

"Until the widespread harnessing of machine energy, food was the energy which fuelled the economy. In this groundbreaking study of agricultural labourers' diet and material standard of living Craig Muldrew uses new empirical research to present a much fuller account of the interrelationship between consumption, living standards and work in the early modern English economy than has previously existed. The book integrates labourers into a study of the wider economy and engages with the history of food as an energy source and its importance to working life, the social complexity of family earnings and the concept of the 'industrious revolution'. It argues that 'industriousness' was as much the result of ideology and labour markets as labourers' household consumption. Linking this with ideas about the social order of early modern England the author demonstrates that bread, beer and meat were the petrol of this world and a springboard for economic change"--

Copyright:

2011

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9780511853326

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Date of Addition:

05/22/11

Copyrighted By:

Craig Muldrew

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Wine, Business and Finance, Sociology

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.