The invention of improvement : information and material progress in seventeenth-century England /
The idea of improvement - gradual and cumulative betterment - was something new in 17th century England. It became commonplace to assert that improvements in agriculture, industry, commerce, and social welfare would bring infinite prosperity and happiness. The word improvement was itself new, and si...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
2014.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | The idea of improvement - gradual and cumulative betterment - was something new in 17th century England. It became commonplace to assert that improvements in agriculture, industry, commerce, and social welfare would bring infinite prosperity and happiness. The word improvement was itself new, and since it had no equivalent in other languages, it gave the English a distinctive culture of improvement which they took with them to Ireland, Scotland, and America. Slack explains the political, intellectual, and economic circumstances which allowed notions of improvement to take root. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource : illustrations (black and white) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780191757754 0191757756 9780191667534 0191667536 0199645914 9780199645916 |