Ruthless : a new history of Britain's rise to wealth and power, 1660-1800 / Edmond Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Edmond, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Industrial revolution--Great Britain--History.

Industrial revolution.

Colonization.

Great Britain--Economic conditions--1760-1860.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (472 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2025

Summary:

A revelatory new history of Britain's industrial revolution and the exploitation that enabled it Was Britain's industrial revolution the result of its machines, which produced goods with miraculous efficiency?Was it the country's natural abundance, which provided coal for its engines, ores for its furnaces and food for its labourers?.

Contents:

Cover

Halftitle page

Title page

Copyright page

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS AND FIGURES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Introduction: For Profit

Part One INNOVATION AND EXPLOITATION, 1660-1750

CHAPTER 1 THE SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE: Innovation, Investment and the State

CHAPTER 2 A GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND: The Environment, Agriculture and Natural Fibres

CHAPTER 3 DESCENT INTO DARKNESS: Mining and Metallurgy

CHAPTER 4 BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL: Conquest, Colonisation and Slavery

CHAPTER 5 WAR PROFITEERING: Violence, the State and Economic Development

Part Two INDUSTRY AND EMPIRE,1750-1800

CHAPTER 6 A SCIENTIFIC PEOPLE: Inventing, Stealing and Commercialising Technology

Plates

CHAPTER 7 MASTERS OF REALITY: Applied Science and Remaking the Natural World

CHAPTER 8 FIRE AND IRON: Power, Metal and Engineering

CHAPTER 9 MADE BY SLAVES: Colonial Goods, Capital and Networks

CHAPTER 10 THE EMPIRE'S NEW CLOTHES: Cotton and the Transformation of British Industry

CONCLUSION Wealth and Power

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780300286137

OCLC:

1561175162