The Industrial Revolution

Devising a time line of the innovations that contributed to the spurring of the 18th-century industrial revolution, author Helfand (Martin Luther King Jr.; They Changed the World: Bell-Edison-Tesla) creates brief histories of such major inventors as Johannes Gutenberg, Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Henry Bessemer, and Henry Ford, focusing on each of their contributions to society. The intent is to show that were it not for Gutenberg's 15th-century printing press, the scale of industrialization as we know it today may not have progressed as it did. With the spread of information and access to books, people with curious minds had more resources at their disposal. The chronology finishes in the present, as great waves of change similar to that of the earlier revolution are now taking place in formerly underdeveloped nations. Kumar (Perseus: Destiny's Call), along with colorists Ashwani Kashyap and Parveen Kumar Singh, provides the wonderful art that translates well the numerous breakthroughs and their impact. A similar series featuring graphic nonfiction is Capstone's "Graphic Library" series.