William Ashworth – författare

This is a comprehensive account of a decisive epoch in England's economic development by a leading economic historian.'Works of economic history often get bogged dwon in figures - so many machines, so much unemployment, often, too, they are histories of technology, not of economic organization. Professor Ashworth goes to the opposite extreme in a most praiseworthy way: his book is actually good to read. Though there are tables of statistics (eleven of them), the book is an essay in interpretation, not an encyclopedia; it enriches our understanding rather than adding to our knowledge.' A.J.P. Taylor.This classic book was first published in 1960.

Great Lakes Journey is a follow-up to William Ashworth's earlier book ""The Late, Great Lakes"", published in 1986. Fifteen years after his first trip, Ashworth journeys to many of the same places and talks to many of the same people to examine the changes that have taken place along the Great Lakes since the 1980s. It is a poetic account of his 6000-mile trip, mixed with explanations of the scientific and poilitical realities behind the observed changes, reminiscences of his 1983 trip, and conversations with local residents - some of them scientists, and other simply people who care. Through personal observations, research and numerous interviews with scientists, activists and government agencies, Ashworth creates a detailed picture of the status of the Great Lakes at the end of the 20th century. Among the most prominent changes he finds are the arrival of the zebra mussel and other exotic species, the rise and fall of the RAP process for pollution cleanup, a growing public mistrust of government action, a substantial loss of habitat and biodiversity, and an explosion of urban sprawl along the shores of the Lakes. Scholars and students of environmental studies and ecology and readers interested in the health of the Great Lakes should find this fresh look at one of America's endangered regions of value.

The Ogallala Aquifer that lies deep beneath the Great Plains from Texas to Colorado contains enough water to fill Lake Erie nine times! Every year five trillion gallons are pumped out for irrigation, and if (or when) the aquifer goes dry, $20 billion worth of food and fiber grown with that irrigation will disappear. William Ashforth tells the fascinating history of the Ogallala from its formation millions of years ago to glimpses of the future when the Great Plains could return to their Sahara Desert-like past.

First published in 1954, The Genesis of Modern British Town Planning is a study from a historical standpoint of the social and economic factors which have made town planning one of the normal functions of government.The author begins with an examination of the rapid growth of towns in the nineteenth century and the consequent emergence of inescapable new problems of health, morality, and economic efficiency, and goes on to discuss the chief ways in which a remedy for these problems was sought in the later part of the century. Separate chapters are devoted to new model villages and towns to the spread of suburbs, and to the improvement of already established towns by means of clearance and rebuilding schemes, bye-law control, and efforts of private philanthropy. The final section of the book shows how the successes and failures of earlier attempts at reforms stimulated a demand for something more comprehensive, which found expression in the town planning act of 1909, and ends by considering the influences that brought to the town planning movement a new strength and importance in the 1930s and the war years.The author has drawn his material from a wide range of government and local authority reports, the writing of philanthropists and social workers, local guides and topographical works and the book will be of great value to those interested in social history, architecture and urban sociology.

First published in 1954, The Genesis of Modern British Town Planning is a study from a historical standpoint of the social and economic factors which have made town planning one of the normal functions of government.The author begins with an examination of the rapid growth of towns in the nineteenth century and the consequent emergence of inescapable new problems of health, morality, and economic efficiency, and goes on to discuss the chief ways in which a remedy for these problems was sought in the later part of the century. Separate chapters are devoted to new model villages and towns to the spread of suburbs, and to the improvement of already established towns by means of clearance and rebuilding schemes, bye-law control, and efforts of private philanthropy. The final section of the book shows how the successes and failures of earlier attempts at reforms stimulated a demand for something more comprehensive, which found expression in the town planning act of 1909, and ends by considering the influences that brought to the town planning movement a new strength and importance in the 1930s and the war years.The author has drawn his material from a wide range of government and local authority reports, the writing of philanthropists and social workers, local guides and topographical works and the book will be of great value to those interested in social history, architecture and urban sociology.