Edinburgh has always been different. It was affected less than most
other cities in Britain by the Industrial Revolution, remaining
essentially professional rather than industrial, while enjoying a
reputation as a hub of intellectual thought during the Scottish
Enlightenment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Adam Smith, David Hume, James Hutton and John Playfair are only a few of
the many eminent thinkers associated with the city. It was also during
this period that the city began to spread beyond the confines of the
cramped Old Town tenements, extending northwards with the building of
the Georgian New Town, and eventually swallowing up many smaller
surrounding settlements, including the port of Leith. Edinburgh at Work
explores the working life of this great city, from humble beginnings to
its current status as the UK's second financial centre after London and
the fourth largest in Europe. In a fascinating series of contemporary
photographs and illustrations it looks at the consequences of rapid
urbanisation, the rise in the city's economic fortunes through the
nineteenth century, the growth of tourism from the postwar period and
the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Along the way it explores the
development of Scotland's capital from relative obscurity to
international renown as home to the world's largest arts festival and
the strongest economy of any city in the UK outside London.
