One of the foremost scholars of nineteenth-century England, Gash has writte n a new interpretation of the years 1815 to 1865 that takes industrializati on off center stage as the great dramatic event in national life. Gash inte grates other equally significant changes the postwar slump in trade and man ufacturing, the unprecedented expansion of population, and the increasing u rbanization. He argues that the singular ability of the industrial revoluti on to produce wealth and skills enabled England to cope with impending soci al catastrophe. Gash also reintroduces the importance of politics in explai ning events, and he challenges the recent historical interpretations giving primacy to class history and class consciousness.