Powell introduces and describes two centuries of building activity and the building industry, addressing such questions as why and what was built, who decided to build, and how they did so.

This scholarly and well-researched study of the building industry documents the interplay of new materials and technologies, costs and the changing social and economic forces that affected the decision-making about our built environment over the last two centuries. The author provides a succinct and readable survey of the growth and development of British building which will be of interest to all building specialists and those training for a career in the construction industry.

This volume undertakes the examination and appraisal of the economic controls employed by the British Labor Government in attempting to regulate the output of the building industry in the years immediately following the Second World War. An unfortunate consequence of earlier preoccupation with purely income-generating aspects of investment activity was that insufficient consideration was given to the allocation of investment resources. It was precisely this latter problem, however, which became a matter of major concern to the Labor Government. Its building program in the postwar years is examined here with particular reference to the program's peculiar structure and organization and the availability of building workers and materials. Discussion also covers the Government's administrative machinery for regulating building demand and for determining the uses to which building resources were put, as well as the priorities which the Government attempted to impose upon the industry and the consequences of specific policy decisions which were made in attempting to enforce these priorities. The British experience during the years between 1945 and 1949 provides numerous insights into the requirements and the problems associated with centralized planning of the operation of a private industry. The attempt to regulate the building industry is of increasing relevance in view of the growing recognition that nationalization is no panacea and that government planning must be more and more concerned with influencing the behavior of privately-operated industries. The importance of the present study is further enhanced by the fact that it deals with a strategic investment­ goods industry which must inevitably play a major role in the current and future "development planning" of underdeveloped countries. This work, therefore, is of special interest to economists concerned with the problems of government economic planning. Moreover, because of its strong focus upon the organizational and administrative aspects of government planning, Economic Planning in the British Building Industry is of vital interest to political scientists and all students of public administration.

Despite recent academic interest in oral history and working-class writing, few other autobiographies reveal daily life for early twentieth-century itinerant gasworks bricklayers, or 'retort-setters'. Charles Hansford recounts constructing his own home single-handedly aged twenty-one, describes economic privations and poor weather conditions. 'Brick Bonds' documents his relationships with fellow workers and specific building techniques they used (a bond is a brick-laying pattern). His personal memories of enemy action in wartime, working-class social and leisure pursuits in London, the 1924 National Building Strike, and notable ships like Titanic and Bismarck are set into historical context. Hansford reveals an evolving class awareness and trade union activism; a declared Socialist, he readily left building sites in protest, even into the 1970s. His career encompassed Fawley Refinery, Royal Netley War Hospital, British Overseas Airways Company flying-boat bases, and Harrods store in London.

Spanning the North Atlantic rim from Canada to Scotland, and from the Caribbean to the coast of West Africa, the British Atlantic world is deeply interconnected across its regions. In this groundbreaking study, thirteen leading scholars explore the idea of transatlanticism--or a shared "Atlantic world" experience--through the lens of architecture, built spaces, and landscapes in the British Atlantic from the seventeenth century through the mid-nineteenth century. Examining town planning, churches, forts, merchants' stores, state houses, and farm houses, this collection shows how the powerful visual language of architecture and design allowed the people of this era to maintain common cultural experiences across different landscapes while still forming their individuality. By studying the interplay between physical construction and social themes that include identity, gender, taste, domesticity, politics, and race, the authors interpret material culture in a way that particularly emphasizes the people who built, occupied, and used the spaces and reflects the complex cultural exchanges between Britain and the New World.

Containing over 25,000 entries, this unique volume will be absolutely indispensable for all those with an interest in Britain in the twentieth century. Accessibly arranged by theme, with helpful introductions to each chapter, a huge range of topics is covered. There is a comprehensiveindex.