{"product_id":"the-lunar-men-the-friends-who-made-the-future-17301810","title":"THE LUNAR MEN. The Friends who made the Future 1730-1810.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the celebrated author of Hogarth--An animated  swarming group portrait of the friends who launched the Industrial Revolution In the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends in the English Midlands. Most came from humble families  all lived far from the center of things  but they were young and their optimism was boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were the ambitious toymaker Matthew Boulton and his partner James Watt  of steam-engine fame; the potter Josiah Wedgwood; the larger-than-life Erasmus Darwin  physician  poet  inventor  and theorist of evolution (a forerunner of his grandson Charles). Later came Joseph Priestley  discoverer of oxygen and fighting radical. With a small band of allies they formed the Lunar Society of Birmingham (so called because it met at each full moon) and kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Blending science  art  and commerce  the Lunar Men built canals; launched balloons; named plants  gases  and minerals; changed the face of England and the china in its drawing rooms; and plotted to revolutionize its soul. Uglows vivid  exhilarating account uncovers the friendships  political passions  love affairs  and love of knowledge (and power) that drove these extraordinary men. It echoes to the thud of pistons and the wheeze and snort of engines and brings to life the tradesmen  artisans  and tycoons who shaped and fired the modern age.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44966153584693,"sku":"ByrdShop_0571196470","price":94.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780571196470.jpg?v=1770555582","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-lunar-men-the-friends-who-made-the-future-17301810","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}