Book Reviews : The Railway Age in Britain and Its Impact on the World. By MICHAEL ROBBINS. (Baltimore: Penguin Books, Inc., 1966. Pp. 191. $1.25.)

• Author: Lawrence J. Mccaffrey
• Date: 01 December 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900441
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

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French newspapers, articles in periodicals, parliamentary debates, and non-secret
published and unpublished reports of government agencies, such as the Commis-
sariat a l’Energie Atomique. He cites some conversations with present and former
French of6cials. It is not clear to this reader how much, or in just what way, these
interviews may have helped the author. As now-secret material becomes avail-
able to historians later, many additional details will emerge. But I doubt that they
will change the basic outline or many of the conclusions of Scheinman’s excellent
study.
TRUMAN DRIGGS
University of Minnesota, Morris
The Railway Age in Britain and Its Impact on the World. By MICHAEL ROBBINS.
(Baltimore: Penguin Books, Inc., 1966. Pp. 191. $1.25.)
In this reprint of a book first published in hardcover in 1962 Robbins argues
that railroads speeded up the centralization of life and government in Britain by
shortening the distances between London and the provinces. The railroad increased
communication and contributed to a growing conformity of customs and values.
But the railroads did not diminish class distinctions. Different types of accom-
modations permitted the wealthy and well born to avoid contact with the masses
and the railroad helped create suburbia where the middle classes could isolate
themselves from the urban proletariat. Robbins believes that on the whole railroads
improved the British landscape particularly before the 1850’s and after 1885 when
architects used imagination and good sense in constructing buildings and bridges.
He discusses the builders of the railroads -
Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, Brassey,
and Vignoles -
and comments on railroad personnel in a brief but interesting
manner: navvies were aristocrats of the construction force, managers came from
a variety of backgrounds with the military making a large contribution, directors
were inclined to put profits above safety, and shareholders seldom had anything
to say about the object of...