Laboratory of Progress

<p><em>The Laboratory of Progress: Switzerland in the 19th Century</em> tells the improbable story of how a small backward mountainous agricultural country with almost no raw materials became an industrial powerhouse a hub of innovation a touristic mecca and a pioneer in transportation – all in the course of a single century. </p><p>That a tiny landlocked country should become a dominant steamship builder for the rest of the world; that a country that had never seen a cotton plant should become the world’s second-largest textile producer; that a country with hardly any level terrain should come to boast the world’s most highly developed railway network; and that a country whose main export was impoverished emigrants should be transformed into one of the world’s major financial centres – these astonishing developments among many others are explored and explained both through the specific stories of individual innovators and through a prescient analysis of the political economic societal and cultural structures that formed the context in which Switzerland’s astonishing transformation took place. </p><p>The book<i> </i>is a compelling read both for professional historians and for general readers with an interest in Switzerland; it highlights the roles of transport networks and individual pioneers in industrial and political development.</p>