"The industrial age has proved to be a formative period for Europe and led to the emergence of differently structured … regions. Some of these regions took a leading role in the process of industrialization, while others developed at a slower … contributions to this volume take a regional perspective and focus on different stages of industrialization. This volume does not …

In the centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution, Western Europe gradually pulled ahead of other world regions … explain the rise of Europe relative to regions that relied on the transmission of knowledge within extended families or clans. …