Kirjahaku

WINNER OF THE 2023 RALPH GOMORY BOOK PRIZE “A superb book.”—Jerry Brotton “Wonderfully wide-ranging and deeply-researched.”—William Dalrymple “Sharply observed, innovatively analysed, and always accessible.”—Nandini Das A new history of English trade and empire—revealing how a tightly woven community of merchants was the true origin of globalized Britain In the century following Elizabeth I’s rise to the throne, English trade blossomed as thousands of merchants launched ventures across the globe. Through the efforts of these "mere merchants," England developed from a peripheral power on the fringes of Europe to a country at the center of a global commercial web, with interests stretching from Virginia to Ahmadabad and Arkhangelsk to Benin. Edmond Smith traces the lives of English merchants from their earliest steps into business to the heights of their successes. Smith unpicks their behavior, relationships, and experiences, from exporting wool to Russia, importing exotic luxuries from India, and building plantations in America. They reveal that the origins of "global" Britain are found in the stories of these men whose livelihoods depended on their skills, entrepreneurship, and ability to work together to compete in cutthroat international markets. As a community, their efforts would come to revolutionize Britain’s relationship with the world.

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? Or was it Britain’s colonies, where a brutalized enslaved workforce produced cotton for its factories? Acclaimed historian Edmond Smith shows how the world’s first industrial nation was founded on the ruthless exploitation of technology, people and the planet. This economic system linked the plantations of the Caribbean with the colossal cotton mills of northern England, applied the innovations of science and agriculture to colonial exploration, and formalised financial markets in self-serving ways. At the heart of these processes were Britons themselves, early capitalists who spun webs of expertise and investment to connect exploitative practices across the globe.Ruthless offers an eye-opening account of Britain’s economic transformation—and the scale and breadth of brutality that it depended upon.

"An engaging sequel to the Silver Poplar that fills out the spiritual journey, overcoming the stigma of an institutional upbringing, leading to an unexpected calling. The writing style and story also allows you to enter into some of the unexpected machinations of the Australian church that existed in that era."Rev Bill MedleyAuthor of best-selling Religion is for Fools."Pastor Eddie Smith belongs to that line of Christians whose witness and influence originates in the gospel that powerfully transformed him in his teenage years. This compelling autobiography documents the events that shaped an "unexpected" life from inauspicious beginnings in a children's home in Melbourne to become an ordained Baptist pastor. It is a candid and sometimes raw account of how God in his mysterious providence uses both the good and even the really bad to bring us to a mature faith in Him."Dr. Tony BirdNew Testament Lecturer and Author of Welwyn Commentary Epistle of James

Do we appreciate to the full why the Jewish believers of the early church ""were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on Gentiles""? Why they were amazed that ""God had granted repentance"" to Gentiles for eternal life? Sacred history is to be seen through enlightened Jewish eyes, revealing that Israel was initially the sole beneficiary of God's revelation before Christ. For the most part the Gentiles were ""allowed . . . to walk in their own ways."" Such was according to divine predestination and the prerogative that God has the freedom to be merciful on whom he desires to be merciful. At the coming of Christ--to the surprise of Jewish believers--Gentiles in numbers became subjects of God's electing love as well. Jesus died for ""the world"" in the sense that he died for Jew and Gentile. And God's freedom in predestination continues to be manifested in the election of both Jew and Gentile, with Christ dying specifically for all those elected of God, as a wide survey of New Testament texts verify. ""It's a courageous effort for Edmond Smith to take on this 'scandal' in today's climate. Importantly, he makes good use of the foundation of any discussion on God's sovereign purposes in salvation and that is the perspective of Israel and the apostles' perspective as Jews."" --Bill Medley, Author of Religion is for Fools Edmond Smith is a retired Baptist pastor. He is the author of A Tree By a Stream (1995), the autobiographical The Silver Poplar (2009), winner of the Australian Caleb Prize for a work of nonfiction. He is also the author of Mirrors in Mark (2014). Edmond lives in Melbourne, Australia, with Kerryn, his wife of forty-six years, and together they have three children and seven grandchildren. He continues to preach and teach in the church community.