You could start with the guy who was there, and coined the term, Arnold Toynbee (not to be confused with his similarly-named nephew, who writes the preface to this edition), <i>The Industrial Revolution</i>, developed from a series of lecture notes 1880-81:<p><<a href="https://archive.org/details/industrialrevol00toyngoog/page/n6/mode/2up" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/industrialrevol00toyngoog/page/n...</a>><p>See note on Worldcat links / surveillance below.<p>I'm strongly partial to looking at history through the lens / frame of energy. Several books and authors do this:<p>- Matthieu Auzanneau, Oil, Power, and War: a dark history. Chelsea Green Publishing Co., (2020). <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-power-and-war-a-dark-history/oclc/1124590359" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-power-and-war-a-dark-hist...</a><p>- Vaclav Smil, Energy in World History. Routledge (1994) <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-history/oclc/1124490716" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-history/oclc/...</a><p>- Vaclav Smil, Energy and civilization : a history. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, (2018) <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-history/oclc/1134666593" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-his...</a><p>- Manfred Weissenbacher, Sources of power : how energy forges human history (2 vols). Praeger, (2009). <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-forges-human-history/oclc/1131512551" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f...</a><p>- Richard Rhodes, Energy : a human history. Simon & Schuster (2019) <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-a-human-history/oclc/1134660012" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-a-human-history/oclc/1...</a><p>- Economic history of energy and environment. Springer (2016). <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-history-of-energy-and-environment/oclc/980482798" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-history-of-energy-an...</a><p>- Anthony N Penna, A history of energy flows : from human labor to renewable power. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, (2020). <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-energy-flows-from-human-labor-to-renewable-power/oclc/1119745736" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-energy-flows-from-...</a><p>- Cutler J Cleveland, Concise encyclopedia of history of energy. Elsevier, (2009) <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/concise-encyclopedia-of-history-of-energy/oclc/520656249" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/concise-encyclopedia-of-histo...</a><p>- Joseph A Pratt, Energy Capitals : Local Impact, Global Influence. University of Pittsburgh Press, (2014). <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-capitals-local-impact-global-influence/oclc/878918855" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-capitals-local-impact-...</a><p>There's a series edited by Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University and published by the Princeton University Press, "The Princeton Economic History of the Western World" with a number of highly recommended titles:<p><<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/series/the-princeton-economic-history-of-the-western-world" rel="nofollow">https://press.princeton.edu/series/the-princeton-economic-hi...</a>><p>In particular:<p>- Gregory Clark, <i>A Farewell to Alms</i>, looking specifically at why the Industrial Revolution arose in Britain in the 19th century.<p>- Robert J. Gordon <i>The Rise and Fall of American Growth</i>, on the 150 years from 1870--2020, and the trajectory of growth in the US over that period.<p>(There are far more books in the series, and I've read only a small fraction. Numerous other titles look highly promising.)<p>There's Joel Mokyr's own <i>The Gifts of Athena</i>: <<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691120133/the-gifts-of-athena" rel="nofollow">https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691120133/th...</a>><p>R.U. Ayres (Robert) has written a number of articles and essays looking at technological development which are IMO highly underrated.<p>The question of <i>why</i> the IR arose in the UK has been called "the Needham Question" (especially in contrast with why it did <i>not</i> arise in China, which has a long and deep history of technological innovation). I'm not aware of any single treatment of this, and Needham's own <i>Science and Civilisation in China</i> despite its excellence in cataloguing China's accomplishments really doesn't serve as a concise answer either.<p>Warning that Worldcat seems to exfiltrate <i>both</i> search terms <i>and</i> searcher's IPs to Facebook and Google. See: <<a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1570183006689673222.html" rel="nofollow">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1570183006689673222.html</a>>.<p>Unfortunately I'm not aware of a suitable replacement service presently, though Internet Archive's Open Library is getting there.