History 4000

July 6, 2005

Dr. Gagnon

Book Review #2

Frontiers of Change by Thomas Cochran is an educational book about early industrialism in America. In the introduction Cochran informs the reader that the coming of industrialism to America is selected as an example of how societies in general evolve new structures, new beliefs, and new patterns of action. People's experiences with life, the knowledge gained by these experiences and people's aspirations all result in new innovations and ways of life(3). Cochran's main thesis stresses that cultural forces shaped the early Republic's economy and the nation's industrial development more than specific individuals or market forces, like labor costs. Cochran argued that many of the new Americans were natural risk takers and that the settlers did not have a strong class based society so that failure was more acceptable and more risks were taken. This was an era that without such risks, new...