With decades of research and reflection, Peter Stearns has done what he alone can do: combine balance, erudition, and nuance with clarity, succinctness, and humanity in this explanation of how industrialization has impacted modern life from childrearing, work, and play to government, religion, and warmaking across the globe. Gary S. Cross, Distinguished Professor of Modern History, Pennsylvania State UniversityAn accessible guide to the nature of industrialization and its impact, whose scope ranges from the intimacies of art and gender to the macro-historical forces of nationalism, globalization and war. Both a fine introduction to the subject and a superb resource for thematic courses in world history.Marc Jason Gilbert, NEH Endowed Chair in World History, Hawaii Pacific University