The Triumph of Textiles - by Christopher A Whatley & Jim Tomlinson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Describes and reassesses the long-term industrial development of Dundee, emphasising the ever-shifting dynamics of textile production in shaping the city's history

Book Synopsis

A fresh account of the remarkable rise of Dundee as a global industrial city - and the origins of its later demise. The background to jute, the product most closely associated with Dundee, is investigated in unprecedented depth. The role of flax and linen as foundations for the jute industry is emphasised.
The book challenges many perceptions of Dundee. Linen was as important to Dundee before c.1850 as jute was afterwards; the significance of jute pre-1850 has often been exaggerated by historians. Traditionally Dundee's success was attributed to the production of cheap coarse cloth for sacks, bagging etc. Yet many firms manufactured high quality, admiralty grade canvas, and colourful rugs and carpets in imitation of Brussels and other woollen floor coverings.
Design was important. So too were enterprising merchants and manufacturers from the early eighteenth century onwards. Although squalor and industrial and social conflict became the norm after the 1870s, prior to that Dundee was relatively buoyant economically, and greatly admired by visitors including those from as far afield as the US. In short, Dundee was one of Scotland's industrial powerhouses - a fact too often overlooked.

Review Quotes

An unrivalled account of the transformation of Dundee's local economy into the reach of a global city.--Murray Pittock, University of Glasgow

Whatley and Tomlinson have pooled their expert knowledge of textile industries and of politics to provide a rigorous new look at industrialisation in Dundee - a city long neglected by most economic historians of Scotland. Linen turns out to have been as important as jute in the making of 'Juteopolis'.--George C. Peden, Emeritus Professor, University of Stirling

About the Author

Christopher Whatley is Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee where until recently he was also a Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Jim Tomlinson is Professor in Economic & Social History at the University of Glasgow, and author of Managing the Economy, Managing the People. Narratives of British Economic Life from Beveridge to Brexit (Oxford University Press, 2017).