The watchful clothier: the life of an eighteenth-century Protestant capitalist

A clothier and a deeply religious man, Joseph Ryder faithfully kept a diary from 1733 until his death, 2.5 million words later, in 1768.

Recently rediscovered and interpreted by the author of this book, Ryder's diary provides a real-life perspective on the relationship between capitalism and Protestantism at a time when Britain was rapidly changing from a traditional to a modern society.

It also provides insights into the early modern family, the birth of industrialisation, the history of Puritanism, the origins of Unitarianism, melancholy, and the making of the British middle class.