The exodus of rural dwellers for the cramped smokefilled but affluent cities of the late nineteenth century took place because of an increasing number of factory jobs And such jobs came about because of a radical shift in technology and society called the Industrial Revolution From steam power to electrical grids the innovations that fueled this revolution transformed the United States into a country that would later dominate the world in business culture and invention Extensive focus on documents period photographs and artwork combined with contextsetting text makes this an authoritative guide to one of the most important eras of American history