It is interesting to witness the scope of history as its effects often lead to the different paths in life someone or something takes over the years; a war, famine, or disease, all produce those pushes and pulls that affect lifelong change. Strange how episodes seemingly so far removed from our existence can eventually wind up changing our personal universes forever. Consequently, what strikes the reader most about Roger Lloyd-Jones and M. J. Lewis's latest book is how easily one can chronicle the long tortuous twentieth century through the tale of just one British company. The authors demonstrate this in their latest work exploring the history of Britain's onetime largest machine-tool manufacturer, Alfred Herbert Ltd. The history of this Coventry-based company, along with that of other leading players in the field of British machine-tool making, is laid out from their earliest beginnings to the death of British manufacturing as we know it. As with so many firms sprouting from humble origins during the Victorian era, Herbert's passed from small family business at the start of the twentieth century, to limited public corporations in the 1920s, and on to a government-dictated war machine during the Second World War. The journey moved forward again, as the company mirrored the floundering business climate of postwar, sans-empire Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, to a planned nationalized economy under the thumb of Harold Wilson in the 1970s and to, ultimately, deindustrialization and closure in Thatcher's free-market economy of the early 1980s.

However, political or social histories are not the point of this work, no matter how nicely they may dovetail into one another. The authors clearly tried to keep this discourse strictly a business history of the British machine-tool industry in general and on the company of Alfred Herbert Ltd. in particular. The overriding argument the writers make is that the twentieth century in regards to the British machine-tool industry should not be thought of as a long steady road to decline as is often written of Britain's political history; rather, Lloyd-Jones and Lewis argue, the nation's economic experiences during these one hundred years were more akin to a series of peaks and valleys. They point to a rapidly expanding economy from the late 1800s until after the economic fallout of the Great War in the early 1920s. Booming production levels and record profits came back to Alfred Herbert Ltd. once again during the arms buildup of the Second World War, straight through the conflict in Korea in the early 1950s, and right on up to the politically turbulent late 1960s. Finally, overseas competition became far too great a burden, causing the firm's surprisingly sudden demise. This cyclical nature was especially evident in the machine-tool trade; a sector often thought of as the cornerstone to any nation's industrial might.

The authors take on a serious study of what went wrong at Herbert’s. How could Britain's largest machine-tool manufacturer die such an ignominious death? If it was able to weather the lean times in the past, why was it not able to ride out this storm of foreign competition? Through the authors’ in-depth analysis, it becomes plainly evident that not enough resources were put into research and development. Alfred Herbert Ltd. made a simple line of products perfect for general purposes but becoming increasingly obsolete in a much more specialized and technologically advanced world. Postwar Britain was now devoid of the dependent markets only a far-flung empire could provide, as its best customers in the Commonwealth were either developing their own machine-tool industry or buying cheaper, technologically superior West German or Japanese products. According to the authors, the economic miracle of West Germany and the growing sophistication of Japanese technology soon outstripped Herbert's and its homegrown competitors. Still, British manufacturers seemed content to cash in on the steady markets they already knew best and not take any chances speculating on the uncertain ventures of research and development. The result, of course, is that the once ubiquitous stamp, “Made in Great Britain,” is now a distant memory from a time long ago.

Ironically, it is what is so good about this book that draws the greatest criticism. As the writers weave a somewhat technical narrative about the trials of one company over the last century, we are exposed to all the adjustments and adaptations the boardroom engineered in order to react to the changing world outside its walls. The push and pull of real historical events caused much of this posturing, yet the writers hardly touch on these proceedings. We are reminded of what was happening on the world stage over the last one hundred years through these pages, but far too often we are given only hints, and the reader has to fill in the blanks himself. For instance, nary a mention is made of the trade union that represented most of the workers at Alfred Herbert Ltd., and over the years one ponders what manner of relationship existed between labor and management. Any ill effects from the General Strike of 1926 are missing, as are any references to the labor strife of the 1970s and the infamous, “Winter of Discontent.” While there are numerous tables and graphs illustrating ups and downs in production levels and employment, one often is left wondering what these statistics meant to the common factory laborer from Coventry, dutifully manning his or her work station day after day at Herbert's sprawling plant. Ultimately, this is a business history; however, a little reflection on so many of the historical events this book barely references would lend a little needed humanity and color to its bevy of techno-speak and business jargon. This is not to say this book is a difficult read, but it is based on a rather esoteric topic geared more toward those familiar with manufacturing practices. Nevertheless, the book does live up to what it promises. We are shown a view of the twentieth century from a microeconomic perspective as unique as Alfred Herbert Ltd. was itself.