Edmond Smith

Thank you! ☺️ Hopefully we'll have a chance to catch up sometime soon.

China today is following Victorian Britain’s industrial pattern On a damp Derbyshire day in 1771, Richard Arkwright watched the world’s first water-powered mill begin to turn, setting in motion a force that would remake the world. The tailor’s son from Preston had...

"His prose is cool, precise and quietly damning.”

Very happy to see such a considered review of #Ruthless in the Spectator last week. Sam Olsen takes real care presenting my ideas and makes some leaps to apply them to modern China, which is very interesting.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/chin...

Thank you! I hope so!

Thanks David! One happy reader at least 🤘

Thank you!

I'm told there's a container ship stuffed full of copies somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic as we speak...!

Ruthless by Edmond Smith — the brutal rise of Britain’s industrial power The historian’s splendid account sets out the ideas, inventions and relentless exploitation that drove the nation’s growth from 1660-1800

Thrilled to see Ruthless reviewed in the FT by Linda Colley, and to be placed among the FT's books of the week too! 😊

www.ft.com/content/67c1...

Al could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points

‘Al could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2
percentage points’

Well that’s the best chart of the year in this @johnthornhill.bsky.social column and basically sums up where we are
on.ft.com/4qMMkJd

Thank you Alka, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy the final chapter on cotton just as much! 😬

Last evening was truly special, meeting with dear friends and colleagues to celebrate the launch of @edmond-smith.bsky.social new book, ‘Ruthless: A New History of Britain’s Rise to Wealth and Power’

Thank you for joining!

Edmond Smith speaking in front of a lot of books

Excited to be launching @edmond-smith.bsky.social’s wonderful RUTHLESS (@yalebooks.bsky.social) in @dauntbooks.bsky.social! 🥂

Get your copy here: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... #SkyStorians

A stack of copies of the book "Ruthless" and a magnificent cat.

I’m excited and humbled that my new book Ruthless is finally out in the world 🎉

It explores how exploitation, innovation, and empire shaped the birth of the Britain's industrial revolution.

📖 It’s out now (and £12.50 this month in Yale's November sale): yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

I had a great time speaking with Miranda Melcher @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about by new book #Ruthless. The podcast is available here: newbooksnetwork.com/ruthless

Ruthless & Bonds of Freedom: An evening with Edmond Smith and Jake Subryan Richards | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Ruthless & Bonds of Freedom: An evening with Edmond Smith and Jake Subryan Richards to...

Join @edmond-smith.bsky.social and Jake Richards discussing their books Ruthless: A New History of Britain’s Rise to Wealth and Power, 1660-1800 and The Bonds of Freedom: Liberated Africans and the End of the Slave Trade

6.30pm, 11th Nov, Waterstones Gower Street
www.waterstones.com/events/ruthl...

Ruthless & Bonds of Freedom: An evening with Edmond Smith and Jake Subryan Richards | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about Ruthless & Bonds of Freedom: An evening with Edmond Smith and Jake Subryan Richards to...

Looking forward to spending an evening with the brilliant Jake Subryan Richards on 11 November at Waterstones on Gower Street to talk about our new books!

www.waterstones.com/events/ruthl...

I'm hosting a celebration to launch my new book #Ruthless on 6 November at Daunt Books on Cheapside. There are still some spaces left and if anyone would like an invite please drop me a message and I will add you to the guest list!

Wine, books and history - what better way to spend an evening!

"This is a must read for anyone interested in the birth of the modern economy."

Who am I to disagree with that!

Thank you @unseenhistories.com for the recommendation 👍

Slavery, Big Data, and the Cultures of Caribbean Ancestral Histories Royal Historical Society public lecture at the University of Aberdeen

Day 1 of the visit (Weds 17th) concludes with a guest lecture, at 5.30pm, at the Linklater Rooms, University of Aberdeen, by Prof. Matthew J. Smith (UCL), Director of the Centre for the Legacies of British Slavery.

Places to attend in person are available and all welcome bit.ly/3IjbMVj 2/2

Book cover of Ruthless by Edmond Smith, published by Yale University Press

Five endorsements for Ruthless praising its research, originality, and vivid writing, from Sathnam Sanghera, Emma Griffin, William Pettigrew, Anton Howes, and Nicholas Radburn (1/2)

Five endorsements for Ruthless praising its research, originality, and vivid writing, from Sathnam Sanghera, Emma Griffin, William Pettigrew, Anton Howes, and Nicholas Radburn (2/2)

Thrilled to share early endorsements for #Ruthless!

Huge thanks to @sathnam.bsky.social, Emma Griffin, @antonhowes.bsky.social, William Pettigrew, and Nicholas Radburn for their generous words.

yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Research Associate in Early Modern Global History:Oxford Road

Just a few days to go before the deadline - 25 August.

There's huge scope within the project to develop work related to trade, cross-cultural encounter and empire in the early modern world, in geographies stretching across Africa and Asia.

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Photo of vibrant blue cotton fibres seen under a microscope.

Photo of bleached cotton fibres seen under a microscope.

Photo of cotton sample for sale by Samuel Oldknow c. 1790.

Working in the John Rylands this week with a restored check-cotton sample book. These are two microscopic images of dyed and bleached cotton with origins in American plantations used in designs which were likely destined for African markets.

Thank you 😊

Thank you! 👍

With proofing and indexing now done (a fun week...), #Ruthless is starting to feel very real!

Fantastic to hear - congratulations 👍

Research Associate in Early Modern Global History, University of Manchester | MEMOs Uni of Manchester, Early Modern Global History

Research Associate in Early Modern Global History, University of Manchester:

memorients.com/news/researc...

Research Associate in Early Modern Global History:Oxford Road

One of my RAs landed a permanent job in Madrid (which is awesome!) so I'm now advertising for a new one!

It's to work on my INTRECCI project on global histories of capitalism.

Please share with anyone interested and happy to answer questions.

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

It's always a great feeling to unpack author copies, but bittersweet for this book I "co-authored" with Richard Smith at the request of his widow after he sadly passed. Hopefully it will serve as a worthy finale and inspire students today as much as his work inspired me during my UG studies.

Done my butterfly count for the year! Dunno if it's just weather or three years of building a pollinator paradise, but twice as many and four times as many varieties this year over 2024 🦋🐝

bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org

New research adds to pressure on British monarchy over historical ties to slavery New research shows that Britain's King George IV, who ruled for a decade until 1830, personally profited from enslaved labour on Grenadian plantations, a finding that experts say heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery.

Very happy to see Desiree Baptiste's important work picked up by Reuters today.

www.reuters.com/world/uk/new...