Like other sets in the UXL history series for middle school through high school, each volume in this new offering — Almanac, Biographies, and Primary Sources — may be purchased separately. A set index is also available.

The Almanac consists of 8 chapters, approximately 60 black-and-white photographs, sources for further study, a time line, a glossary, and an index. The first four chapters focus on England, where the first phase of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) was dominated by the coal-driven steam engine and textile machines. The last four chapters focus on the second phase, which occurred mainly in the U.S and continental Europe, from 1850 to 1940, and was driven by the internal combustion engine and electricity.

The 25 essays in Biographies provide biographical information with an emphasis on each person's contribution or impact on the Industrial Revolution. Personages include economic philosophers (such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith); innovators (Henry Ford, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney); financial giants and robber barons (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller); crusading journalists (Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell); and unionizer Mother Jones. More than 50 black-and-white photographs complement the text together with further reading, a time line, and index.