Podcast Summary: "Ruthless: A New History of Britain’s Rise to Wealth and Power, 1660-1800"

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Professor Edmund Smith
Date: October 28, 2025
Book: Ruthless: A New History of Britain’s Rise to Wealth and Power, 1660-1800 (Yale UP, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode explores Professor Edmund Smith's upcoming book, Ruthless, which offers a new narrative for Britain's rise to global power between 1660 and 1800. Smith joins Dr. Miranda Melcher to discuss how Britain's ascent was not only the result of industrial innovation, but also deeply entwined with the exploitation of land, labor—both free and unfree—and imperial expansion. The conversation investigates industries like wool and cotton, the role of knowledge transfer, the state's part in fostering economic growth, and the global connections (notably the slave trade) that underpinned Britain's wealth and power.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Smith's Approach and Motivation

[02:26]

• Smith’s project began by connecting two fields: institutional drivers of innovation, and legislative history of the British slave trade.

  “[Ruthless] is the story of how Britain's rise to global power was built not just on steam engines and factories ... but about a wider exploitation of land, labor and empire across the world.” (Edmund Smith, 02:26)

• Sought to tie familiar narratives (Industrial Revolution, science, Enlightenment) deeply to the history of empire and exploitation.

Foundations of Economic Growth Pre-Industrial Revolution

[04:47]

• Economic and demographic transformations (urbanization, productivity, trade growth) trace back to mid-1600s, earlier than often assumed.
• Expansion of trade (e.g., East India Company), novel corporations, and shifting ideas about “improvement” shaped Britain’s unique economic ethos.

The Central Role of the Wool Industry

[06:41]

• Wool was Britain’s most crucial export and manufacturing sector through the 17th and 18th centuries—until cotton rose in the late 1700s.
• Regional adaptation and innovation (adopting European workers/techniques) allowed wool producers to enter new markets.
• Agricultural innovations (e.g., integrating sheep husbandry with crop rotation) increased productivity:

  “Wool is so important to Britain's economy in part because you can re-wool in Britain. There's this obsession ... with improving the production of goods that can be made from Britain’s soil.” (Edmund Smith, 08:28)

The Iron and Metal Industries: Geography, Competition, and Integration

[10:42]

• Britain’s metal industries initially lagged behind Europe despite abundant resources; development driven by desire for "import substitution."
• Innovative strategies (linking coal in Wales and copper in Cornwall) led to new integrated metallurgy hubs (like Swansea).
• Overseas markets (especially in the Caribbean, North America, and Africa) were vital for industry growth.

Violence, Empire, and Capitalist Expansion

[14:06]

• The ethos of “improvement” drove both productive and violent/exploitative innovations—exemplified in warfare and gun manufacturing.
• 18th-century gunmakers adapted production for peacetime export (notably to Africa as payment for enslaved people), directly linking industrial and imperial violence:

  “... gun makers shifting their priorities ... away from producing goods for the British state and towards producing guns for markets overseas. Predominantly among them was West Africa, where British firearms were sold explicitly so that enslavers could then purchase captive African people ...” (Edmund Smith, 16:10)

The State: Patron, Enabler, and Enforcer

[18:14]

• Britain's state shaped innovation via support for scientific societies (e.g., Royal Society) and by enabling exploitative commerce (e.g., Royal African Company).
• State policies were consistently mercantilist, backing patents, monopolies, and financial institutions, with a dual aim: stimulate domestic innovation and secure imperial markets.
• Duality: same year (1660), Royal Society (science) and the first state-backed slave trading company were established:

  "The state's taking a dual role here in both trying to create conditions for innovation at home while also supporting muscular, mercantilist, militarized economic activities overseas." (Edmund Smith, 19:30)

Knowledge Networks, Technological Diffusion, and Patents

[22:44]

• Flow of innovation was not accidental: people, patents, and even industrial espionage were critical.
• Example: The Lombe brothers smuggled silk mill technology from Italy, combining it with English engineering and Italian craftworkers, leading to the first water-powered silk mills. This model inspired later cotton mechanization (Arkwright).
• Knowledge sharing was frequent—guided by partnership, patents, and competitive imitation, not secrecy alone:

  "Sometimes through positive exchanges of knowledge, but often also through a competitive desire to replicate and take advantage of other people’s developments." (Edmund Smith, 27:32)

Big Projects: Infrastructure and the Web of Investment

[28:38]

• Large-scale physical infrastructure (e.g., Liverpool docks, canals) was both enabled by and catalytic for interconnected industries.

• Infrastructure investment required broad local collaboration—return on investment wasn’t always immediate, but transformative for whole regions:

  "Without ongoing investment in infrastructure ... this increase in shipping ... wouldn't be possible." (Edmund Smith, 30:34)

• The port of Liverpool: grew from small harbor to major node in the Atlantic slave trade, then in the cotton trade—illustrating the complex, often exploitative drivers of economic “success.”

Collaboration, Competition, and Regional Dynamics

[33:52]

• Distance between regions allowed for experimental competition and localized innovation. Sometimes the state enforced policies (e.g., banning raw wool export), but often let regional industries rise and fall.
• Manchester and the North West exploited their relative autonomy to experiment with fibers and business practices—outcompeting more regulated areas.

Sugar, Copper, Overseas Industry Links

[39:52]

• The sugar industry depended on both British-made copper cauldrons (shipped to Caribbean plantations) and subsequent refining in Britain.
• Exploitation ran “full circle”: British industrial goods enabled plantation production, and colonial outputs fed British industries and exports:

  “Sugar production … was produced in plantations in a process that was very much at the peak of how people are imagining industrialized agricultural production … huge copper vessels … typically mined in Britain, manufactured in Britain and then shipped to the Caribbean …” (Edmund Smith, 41:13)

Public Perception and the Visibility of Exploitation

[43:55]

• Most Britons knew that colonial commodities were not domestically produced; deeper awareness of slavery’s role varied by location and proximity to profiteers.
• In Liverpool, the connection between city prosperity and slavery was not only well-known but openly celebrated and defended against abolitionist efforts.

The Shift from Wool to Cotton

[48:38]

• Cotton's rise over wool: not an outright replacement, but a combination of consumer preference (lighter, more colorful), market protection (restrictions on Indian textiles), and technological breakthroughs (mechanization and steam power in the late 18th century).
• Industrial synergy: advances in iron, access to coal, global networks, state support—all converged to make cotton dominant by the 1790s.

  “We don’t have this explosion of cotton growth without all of these different things happening ... industrialization, exploitation, innovation—none of them happened in isolation.” (Paraphrased, Edmund Smith, 53:28)

Closing and Future Work

[54:33]

• Smith’s next project: a global study of connectivity—how economic practices, laws, and institutions converged from West Africa to Southeast Asia, producing early globalization.

  “I want to understand how different commercial practices and experience and laws and regulations across the world were able to coalesce and come together in the early modern period to create the globalized world that we see today.” (Edmund Smith, 54:37)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This idea of improvement ... can be equally applied to technologies or business practices that are exploitative and have a hugely negative impact on the people involved.” (Smith, 14:24)
• “The state’s taking a dual role ... trying to create conditions for innovation at home while also supporting ... militarized economic activities overseas.” (Smith, 19:30)
• “The real success of mechanization isn’t necessarily the profits ... but because it has knock-on effects into other industries.” (Smith, 25:33)
• “Infrastructure that’s built is a necessary part of this story ... Without raw cotton carried through this infrastructure ... we couldn’t possibly see the scale ... of textile industrialization at the very end of the 18th century.” (Smith, 31:38)
• “There’s lots of stories of people who fail and fall by the wayside ... We’re not talking about a period of ubiquitous gains ... let alone when we think about the imperial and colonial contexts, where the exploitation of labour is even more pronounced.” (Smith, 37:44)
• “The relationship [between the British economy and colonial exploitation] is understood across a wider range of people in Britain than we might expect. But it’s especially understood and even supported by the people who profit most.” (Smith, 47:32)

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• Introduction of Author & Book’s Aims – [02:14–04:05]
• Britain in the 1600s: Economic & Ideological Foundations – [04:47–06:28]
• The Wool Industry as Economic Driver – [06:41–10:09]
• Development of Iron/Metallurgy Industries – [10:42–13:39]
• Warfare, Capitalism, and Enslavement – [14:06–17:06]
• Role of the State in Economic Development – [18:03–21:52]
• Knowledge Sharing and Patents – [21:52–28:09]
• Big Physical Projects: Infrastructure – [28:09–33:08]
• Competition, Collaboration, and Regionalism – [33:08–39:27]
• Sugar, Copper, and Transatlantic Industry – [39:52–43:23]
• Public Perception of Slavery's Role – [43:23–48:04]
• Transition from Wool to Cotton – [48:04–54:12]
• Next Project Sneak Preview – [54:33–55:46]

This episode provides a nuanced, deeply interconnected account of Britain’s economic history—emphasizing not just invention and industry, but also the relentless, often brutal exploitation that fueled the nation’s ascent. The conversation is both scholarly and accessible, underlining the importance of looking beyond simple narratives to the full complexity of the past.