The Economic & Social History of Continental Europe & Britain, c. 1000-1914: An Introductory, Annotated Reading-List for Economists

Summary

This three-page document is an anonymous, opinionated annotated reading-list — ‘for economists’ — on the economic and social history of Continental Europe and Britain from roughly 1000 to 1914. Its discursive introduction is as much a methodological manifesto as a bibliography: the compiler separates the Continent from Britain because the modern developed world is Anglophone, warns of ‘factual overload,’ and counsels readers to take the older Austrian economists’ view that it is ‘the facts of the various stories that count,’ not ‘empirical work’ in the conventional sense. The reader is urged to study the real social world, to start from the nineteenth century and work backwards, and to appreciate ‘the tremendous significance of the Golden Century between 1815 & 1914.’

The references themselves are grouped into two sections. Section A (Continental Europe) lists works by Robert Bartlett, Euan Cameron, T. C. W. Blanning, Peter Rietbergen and Sidney Pollard, spanning the making of medieval Europe through the industrialization of 1760-1970. Section B (Britain) is fuller, running from Britnell and Dyer on the late medieval economy through Wrightson, Thirsk, Berg, McKendrick, Porter, Mathias, and on to Sidney Pollard, S. B. Saul, F. M. L. Thompson and Kenwood & Lougheed on the Victorian and international economy. Each entry carries a terse evaluative gloss (‘brilliant,’ ‘slightly old-fashioned but still useful’), and a recurring sceptical thread questions whether laissez-faire Britain truly ‘fell behind’ the Continental economies in the later nineteenth century. The list presents itself as a starting point rather than a definitive canon, repeatedly reminding the reader that each book only scratches the surface.

Key points

• An anonymous annotated reading-list on European and British economic and social history, c.1000-1914, aimed at economists.

• The introduction is a methodological argument favouring the ‘older Austrians’ and the study of facts over ‘empirical work.’

• Advises reading the nineteenth century first and working backwards, stressing the ‘Golden Century’ of 1815-1914.

• Section A (Continental Europe) lists Bartlett, Cameron, Blanning, Rietbergen and Pollard.

• Section B (Britain) is fuller: Britnell, Dyer, Wrightson, Thirsk, Berg, McKendrick, Porter, Mathias, Saul, Thompson and others.

• Each entry carries a short evaluative annotation (‘brilliant’, ‘old-fashioned but useful’).

• A recurring theme questions whether laissez-faire Britain really fell behind the Continent in the late 19th century.

• Presents itself as an introductory starting point, not a definitive canon.

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