| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Mary B. Rose. Firms, Networks and Business Values: The British and American Cotton Industries since 1750. (Cambridge Studies in Modern Economic History, number 8.) New York: Cambridge University Press. 2000. pp. xii, 352. $64.95.

Mary B. Rose has written a comprehensive and thoughtful overview of the British and American cotton industries from the middle of the eighteenth century until the late twentieth century. Her work is decidedly comparative and argues persuasively that the United States should not be the presumed standard by which to judge British industrial development and decline. Rather than assuming convergence over time in the highly competitive international cotton industry, Rose analyzes the remarkably resilient diversity between American and British manufacturers. 1

The title of Rose's book highlights the importance she places on understanding the ways in which family ties, social (class) connections, and community cultural values influence business history. She insists that scholars pay careful attention not only to economic factors such as raw material and labor costs, market penetration, and pricing schemes but also to political systems, government policies, and laws. By placing industries and individual firms in this broader cultural and political context, Rose is able to explore key differences in British and American economic development. . . .

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