This is a core text covering all GCSE British economic and social history syllabuses. It examines the major changes that have occurred in Britain since the 18th century and explores the ways in which these changes have affected the way people live and work. The book is divided into three areas, with the first part covering 1700-1850 and examining people and industry, machines, coal and steam power, and road, water and rail transport. The second part of the book is concerned with key changes in living patterns, significant changes in agriculture and the rise and fall of industrial Britain. The third part covers responses to change from 1700 to the 1980s and looks at the growth of cities and life in the Victorian city, public health, working conditions and reform, poverty, the Welfare State, the working class movement and the trade unionization and organization of labour, the changing role of women and recent developments in the 70s and 80s.