Book excerpt: This is the first book to explore the exceptional opportunities offered by aerial photography for unravelling the physical complexities and historical development of the industrial landscape of Britain. A wide range of industrial sites is illustrated - from quarries, mines and car factories to airports, railways and New Towns. The general nature and significance of their history and development is discussed while the detailed commentaries accompanying each photograph indicate the kind of historical and technical information which cannot be easily obtained in any other way. There is good geographic coverage of sites, with examples from England, Wales and Scotland, drawn from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Through a combination of fascinating narrative detail and imaginative presentation of photographic evidence, this book provides a unique insight into our industrial past and present.