The text “The Chief Features of the Industrial Revolution”, written by Arnold Toynbee, is a report about the main changes that the Industrial Revolution brought in England and, as a result, in all Europe.

The central idea of the text is that a great process as the Industrial Revolution may bring wealth without producing well-being. The author gives the reader clear and detailed information about the radical changes in nineteenth century England related to the revolution and distribution of wealth.

The report is preceded by a short introduction, which has the aim to take the reader into the essay.

The entire text is divided in ten paragraphs and the layout helps the reader to understand better their division; each paragraph deals with an important concept and the author gives clear and precise information about all of them.

The first paragraph coincides with the short introduction.

In the second paragraph the author talks about the development of Economic Science in England, one of the two greatest system of thought. He explains and comments its four principal landmarks, each related to the name of an important English economist.

From the next paragraph the essay gives the reader more specific information about the facts that distinguish the Industrial Revolution.

Paragraphs from third to sixth deal with  the situation of population at the end of eighteenth century and the role of the agrarian revolution in the industrial change; in this part of text the reader can also understand the causes of the decrease of rural population and know something about the great agricultural advances of the period.

The seventh paragraph comes up with the consequences of the mechanical discoveries, mentioning to the names of the most important inventor of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; few lines are close to the iron industry.

Another key fact is discussed in paragraph eight: the means of communication, related to the expansion of trade and travels.

In the central paragraphs the author makes lots of explanations and arguments about the facts and the concepts he considers the best to let the reader understand the focal point of his own theory about the Industrial Revolution. In the last two paragraphs he deals with the problems of wealth and misery that the population has always to face up with. As in the agricultural world as in the manufacturing world, the division between farmer, labourers and lords is dated.

In order to make as clear as possible the mains points of his essay, right from the start Toynbee builds a structure in which all the topics are connected in a logical process.