In the late eighteenth century, the competitive position of French industry was seriously undermined by the sudden influx of inexpensive English goods—the products of the First Industrial Revolution. Responding to this challenge, French government officials established trade fairs—such as the Paris Industrial Exposition of 1806—to promote the introduction of commercially viable technologies. In this article, Professor Hafter takes a close look at this 1806 exposition. She discovers that, in addition to praising English-style machinery, the exposition's judges also praised traditional French production methods—a choice, she suggests, that reflected the uneven pattern of French industrialization.

While the fact of Dutch capitalist involvement in building and operating the American railroad network in the nineteenth century is relatively well known, the ways in which the Amsterdam capital market was tapped by American railroad companies or their representatives have remained relatively obscure. In this article, Dr. Veenendaal, using hitherto unknown archival material, explains how the promoter of the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad (now the Kansas City Southern), Arthur E. Stilwell, set out to procure the millions he needed to realize his dream, a direct railroad from the Midwest to the Gulf.

As the American South recovered from the Civil War, railroads and the businessmen who managed them were important ingredients in the process of economic change. But who were the railroad leaders of the first generation of the “New South” and what were their personal and corporate goals? What were the effects of their actions on the course of southern restoration? Sharply at odds with the usual “carpetbagger” demonology, Professor Klein suggests an alternative explanation and analysis.