The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood

by Tristram Hunt

From one of Britain’s leading historians and the director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, a scintillating biography of Josiah Wedgwood, the celebrated eighteenth-century potter, entrepreneur, and abolitionist

Wedgwood pottery, such as the celebrated blue of Jasperware, is famous worldwide. Jane Austen bought it, and wrote of it in her novels; Empress Catherine II of Russia ordered hundreds of pieces for her palace; British diplomats hauled it with them on their first-ever mission to Peking, audaciously planning to impress China with their china. But the life of Josiah Wedgwood is far richer than just his accomplishments in ceramics. He was a leader of the Industrial Revolution, a pioneering businessman, a tireless scientific experimenter, a cultural tastemaker, and an ardent abolitionist. And he did it all in the face of chronic disability and relentless pain: a childhood bout with smallpox eventually led to the amputation of his right leg.

As acclaimed historian Tristram Hunt puts it in this lively, vivid biography, Wedgwood was the Steve Jobs of the eighteenth century: a difficult, brilliant, creative entrepreneur whose personal drive and extraordinary gifts changed the way we work and live. Drawing on a rich array of letters, journals, and historical documents, The Radical Potter brings us the story of a singular man, his dazzling contributions to design and innovation, and his remarkable global impact.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Art, 18th Century, Art History, British Literature

352 pages, Hardcover

Published October 26, 2021

About the author

Tristram Hunt is the author of Marx’s General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels and Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City. One of Britain’s leading young historians, he writes regularly for The Guardian, The Observer, and The Times, and has broadcast numerous series for the BBC. A lecturer in history at the University of London, Hunt represents Stoke-on-Trent in the British Parliament, where he serves as the education spokesman for the Labour Party.

Reviews

[Martin Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and well written book and it is true to its title. There is a lot in this book about his position as a dissenter, as a member of the Birmingham Lunar Society and the whole ethos of that time - which rather slows down the narrative of the more exciting story of Wedgwood's life and the development of the eponymous pottery whose Jasper ware is recognised throughout the world. Josiah Wedgwood was an extraordinary man whose misfortune to have contracted smallpox meant that he could no longer operate a potters wheel and so concentrated on the science of pottery making and the design of the products he made. He was also a marketing genius using what we now call influencers, long before Instagram and Tik Tok, to help market his pottery and also created the idea of mail order and free delivery. The story is fascinating and Tristram Hunt tells it well, but he is also determined that we appreciate what a radical Wedgwood was for his time. Although not popular with everyone he was a supporter of the French Revolution, a passionate supporter of the abolitionist cause, designing an anti-slavery medallion which he gave away and was as iconic in its time as the CND badge became in ours. He also invented a thermometer to measure the extreme heat in the pottery kiln which was a real innovation. Wedgwood's life is a story that deserves to be told and I am glad I read this book.

[Ben Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excuse my English, but fucking hell, the epilogue in this was infuriating. In the midst of the current scandal and the further gutting of our heritage and civic pride, I struggled to read the last 20 pages (solemnly chronicling Wedgwood's great decline post-Josiah's death, particularly 1980s onward). I struggled to read it both metaphorically and also literally because I couldn't fucking stop shaking my fucking head.

If you're from a big city, or somewhere similarly thriving, you might not understand why this is so infuriating (I don't mean to be cynical, if you're a decent, thoughtful person then I'm sure you do actually understand). But as each potbank of our unique skyline is levelled to make way for a depressing, povertious, miserable post-industrial wasteland, as The Leopard pub (its significance in Wedgwood and S-o-T's stories discussed in this book) is still smouldering following its burning down last Saturday, you really do have to wonder why it is that everyone thinks it's ok for our home to be stripped of its life and rendered a bleak husk of a community.

I was born here, I live here, I'll die here. It'd be nice if the powers that be weren't utterly bent on making it as miserable a place as possible.

My fury at the end of this book makes a stark contrast to the unbridled pride I felt whilst reading the 232 pages that preceeded the post mortem of the Potteries. I read the final chapter before the epilogue with Etruria Hall visible out of the window, a few minutes' walk away. Our one truly world famous export, on the tables of the Russian Tsarina, or the founders of the United States. Depicting the noble fight against slavery of human beings, revolutionising manufacture and commerce, whilst keeping it completely married to art and beauty. Despite the negativity surrounding the Potteries, it was so nice to fall deep into a celebration of our heritage.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entrepreneur. Successful businessman. Experimental scientist and member of the Royal Society. Iconic trendsetter and potter to a queen. And, an ardent abolitionist. Josiah Wedgewood was all that. He also accomplished it all with a wooden leg after small pox lead to an infection that resulted in an amputation.

It is an amazing legacy.

The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgewood by Tristram Hunt, as its title suggests, is more than a biography of a man. Hunt considers the social, economic, and political world of his time. Wedgewood is considered a founder of the Industrial Revolution. He adopted the division of labor for high production. He reached a global market. He was always improving his products through experimentation. A Nonconformist and Enlightenment thinker, his Emancipation Badge of an African slave pleading “Am I not a man and a brother too?” became the most well known abolitionist icon.

Hunt was a new MP when the Wedgewood historical achieves and design books were at risk of liquidation and dispersal. He fought to save the Wedgewood Collection. He came to appreciate Wedgewood’s place in history.

His resulting book is often surprising, and always fascinating.

I learned about pottery making, the collecting frenzy known as ‘pottery fever,’ the rise of the industrial revolution and its impact, and the radical thinking of Wedgewood and his friend Erasmus Darwin.

I received an ARC from the publisher through LibraryThing. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Martin Riexinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressive biography about a central but often overlooked person in British history.

Hunt uses the life of Josiah Wedgwood I as a peg for a general description of central issues in 18th century British history such as the Industrial Revolution, technology and science, aesthetics, radicalism and not least abolitionism. He shows how Wedgwood advanced progress on many fields, but that the commitment of him and his companions was not without contradictions. There republicanism and abolitionism conflicted with the fact that Wedgwood products were in demand among the rich, the nobility and often slave owners.
Apart from the first ones and the last one, chapters do not strictly follow chronology, they are dedicated to specific issues.
A point of criticism that might be raised is that the author assumes that readers have some knowledge of ceramics, but with Wikipedia at hand one can without major problems understand the description of the processes.
Illustrations show major Wedgwood products, the development of the industrial landscape in "the Potteries" as well as the family and companions.

In the epilogue Hurst describes the rapid decline of the company since the 1990s as well as efforts to save the industrial heritage (in which he himself played a crucial role as Labour MP).

[Sharon Huether · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josiah Wedgwood grew up in a family of potters. He was the youngest of twelve children. As a child he contracted small pocks, which left is leg lame and was unable to throw the clay to the potters wheel. This was a blessing. Now Josiah could deal with the finer points of pottery making.

The Wedgewood pottery became very famous. It was the official pottery of the Royals in England.
Also Empress Catherine the Great had hundreds of pieces.

Josiah was also an abolitionist , making Emancipation Badge medallion, depicting a shackled slave
and inscribed "Am I not a Man and a Brother". That badge became a symbol of antislavery.

While digging clay, many bones were found beneath the clay. This find brought out arachnological digs.
Later in life Josiah had his lame leg removed and was fitted with a wooden peg. It made life so much easier for Josiah.
Unfortunately all of his six children never took any interest in pottery making.

Many of his pieces of pottery are in Museums for all to see.

I won this free advanced copy from Henry Holt and Company.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is why I like historical fiction. I am so interested in this information but this book was so boring to me. Maybe I'd like it more if I was a potter or a business savvy person. Josiah Wedgewood is a very interesting person, radical for his feminist, abolishionist views. A genius businessman and incredible potter, often coming up with new ways to manipulate the clay and new designs to stay relevant.
I would love to know more about his personal life and how he lived. We got a couple paragraphs when his young daughter died of seizures, apparently due to to many teeth growing in at once? I remember his business partners name, but not his wife's? This is certainly due to the fact that the book is written from actual historical sources (personal letters, publications etc.).

[Abdullah O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished the book, I felt that I read a Micro-history book with which I’d be able to see the Americas, Australia, Asia, trade, English society with the eyes and experiences of a 18th century potter. My next book will be on the Portland Vase, with which I guess I’ll be able to get the details of Tonnes stuff from epicenter of an art piece. What a great way to learn macro events with micro stuff!

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing account of not only the rise of Wedgwood pottery but also the early industrial revolution and the beginning of modern manufacture and sales.

Inspired by the beautiful and advanced porcelain of China, and also by the trade deficit, European manufacturers reverse engineered the techniques and then sought to develop and expand the pottery craze of the early modern world. Wedgwood was a genius in the right place and the right time and took the British empire by storm with his innovative and beautiful designs.

The saddest part is the last chapter which details the sorry decline of Wedgwood under its modern owners. They have chosen, like many other great British businesses such as M&S, to prioritize profit over quality and local manufacture. And why, as the author points out, should we pay a premium for items that have little to distinguish themselves from all the other items pouring out of Chinese factories? At least Emma Bridgewater is made (for now lol) in Stoke.

[Anthony Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tristram Hunt’s biography of Josiah Wedgwood is in some respects the biography of a Staffordshire manufacturing industry as well, and the final chapter, or Epilogue, was, for me, the most powerful of the book. In it, Hunt outlines the demise of both the Etruria works – Josiah Wedgwood I’s final factory – and the new 20th century site at Barlaston built in the late 1930s which was developed by Josiah Wedgwood V after a period of the company’s gentle decline, and which ushered in a very successful revitalisation of the business. In 1990 the company was taken over by profit-chasing Sir Tony O’Reilly, and what is now left of the Wedgwood business after its destruction at the hands of O’Reilly, who used the business as a cash cow in a Thatcherite deregulated world, is a shadow of everything that Josiah Wedgwood stood for in the 18th century in terms of business acumen and what we now call research and development.

And what did Josiah I stand for? Most prominently, an insatiable curiosity in how to manufacture the best quality pottery outside the porcelain region of China. Hunt pays particular attention to Wedgwood’s personal researches into sourcing clays and his relentless pursuit of innovations in his glazes. The result of his researches eventually manifested itself in what has become the classic Jasperware range for which Wedgwood is chiefly renowned today.

At the same time, while by no means a businessman after money for its own sake, Wedgwood was undeniably interested in the moolah. To this end, he needed a disciplined workforce which, at the start, he did not have. Skills, yes, but regular application of them, no. For example, there were too many holidays, and St Monday was virtually a hebdomadal fixture. Potters were also inclined to move about among manufacturers. Wedgwood sought to eradicate this by paying reasonable wages in exchange for better working practices. These practices evolved from employing men with multiple skills - from pugging and throwing to glazing and firing and packing - and turning them into piece-work specialists. In this way, Wedgwood was at the forefront of an industrial system we are still familiar with today. He was just as modernising when it came to supporting infrastructure development, specifically canals, to streamline his supply and delivery systems. He also had agents overseas and a sales room in London, and was aware of the importance of setting fashion and providing desirable goods that were both practical for the table and elegant enough to be taken as decorative works of art in their own right.

And he could throw a mean pot himself. He understood his craft and how to turn it to advantage for himself and his family and, with the Etruria works and its housing, for the families of the Potteries just to the north of Stoke-on-Trent.

The other interesting figure in the story is Thomas Bentley who became Wedgwood’s business partner, and frequent references are also made to John Flaxman, celebrated sculptor and painter, as a chief designer, as well as Matthew Boulton, a have-brain-can-design-and-can-produce entrepreneur who operated a ‘manufactory’ in Handsworth, Birmingham. Boulton produced all sorts of goods, and operated with Wedgwood in ormolu work and in producing metal mounts for some of Wedgwood’s pots and vases.

Later, however, Boulton became less a business associate and more of an intellectual one, for in time Wedgwood’s interest in research and development became more widespread and he was an early member of the Lunar Society who met on the Sunday nearest the full moon to discuss items of scientific interest. But his interests also extended into the anti-slavery movement. Indeed, he supported free trade, believing that low taxes and low import and export duties would encourage trade between friendly nations, not to mention the profits that would accrue to manufacturers, thus distributing wealth more equally rather than simply into the pockets of aristocrats. At the same time, when free trade threatened his own lucrative business arrangements, he ‘wanted to be certain that any trade agreements would never seek “to lower the duties on Asiatic Porcelains, as we can have no motive or expectation of receiving any reciprocal advantages, for that measure from our East India Company”’. In fact, he was not only an advocate of free trade, but also a protectionist!

This aspect of Wedgwood’s story was the one I felt marred his character and reputation. He demanded not only regular working hours and working practices intended to maximise efficient profit-garnering production, distribution and sales, but he also forced workers and their families into the accommodation provided for them In this way, he effectively provided himself with a system of benevolent slavery. Like many paternalistic employers, although ostensibly philanthropic in their attitude to their employees, he in fact made sure he fitted himself out with a workforce whose conditions of employment limited their freedoms. His own workers were certainly not slaves, but I wonder if they felt an irony in their employer’s support for the abolition of the slave trade.

Perhaps I exaggerate. Nevertheless, I warmly recommend anyone to read Tristram Hunt’s careful, detailed and critically appreciative assessment of a man who was a pioneer of production and a fabricator of fine faience through research, endeavour and a love of the possible.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched, engaging biography of Josiah Wedgwood. The focus is as much on his business innovations as his interest in radical causes spurred by his upbringing in a Dissenting family.

[Rebecca Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for art book club. I have read several better biographies of Wedgewood. Not enough interesting antidotes and personal stories. Just naming business partners, etc.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josiah Wedgewood was so much more than a pottery master; he was a social activist, an entrepreneur, a metallurgist, and a cultural tastemaker in the early days of consumer culture. But, let’s start with the pottery. The Wedgwood family ran Staffordshire pottery factories from the 16th century until the early 2000s. Josiah, born 1720, was the innovator who took it beyond cups and teapots. In fact, “the insidious, unstoppable growth of tea drinking” in England coincided with his birth as tea imports from China escalated dramatically and the cup of tea became fundamental to English culture. Enter the Wedgwoods, whose primitive white stoneware pottery was stolid but uninspiring. Josiah immediately began to experiment with more creative glazes in agate, red, yellow, and green. He wrote “…something new was wanted, to give a little spirit to the business.”

The author, who is also the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, painted a rich historical context for the Wedgewood business. He described the new-found consumer market from rising British incomes during the Industrial Revolution, the profits from exports to the American colonies, and the galvanizing competition from the other pottery makers such as Spode.

When Queen Charlotte ordered some of Josiah’s creamware, he promptly renamed it “Queensware” and its popularity blossomed. Even Benjamin Franklin ordered it! Josiah was a marketing genius, pioneering such tactics as using influencers to give his product cachet, a luxurious printed catalogue for the masses, an elite showroom in London, and mass production in re-designed factories. La plus ca change, la plus la meme chose: Josiah was obsessed with matching the qualities of ancient Chinese porcelain, foreshadowing the 21st century battle over Chinese trade policy. Next, he began to replicate centuries-old Greek artistry when the British plundered the ruins of Pompeii and popularized neo-classical designs. The English markets went wild for his black and red Etruscan-style vases. I was fascinated with the idea of consumer items forever being both innovation and imitation. Who knew a simple pottery story would raise so many social themes? Other highlights from the story included Josiah’s intense anti-slavery activities, his advocacy for manufacturing reforms, and his friendships with some of the inventors of his age through his membership in the Royal Society. He was not the most enlightened factory owner, but he was full of interesting contradictions for the 1700s.

Finally, Wedgwood invented his most iconic product, the “lilac, blue, white, yellow and sea-green of jasperware.” You would recognize it if you saw it; dishes with a raised white relief image of some Greek figures against a blue or green background. Experts hailed it as a tremendous contribution to British decorative arts. Wedgwood wrote about it, “I am fully persuaded this new Art…will be a very capital one to us…the finishing stroke to the Art.” He was right. It was manufactured and imitated for at least the next two hundred years, until consumer tastes, a punishing exchange rate, and dining out diminished the dinnerware market. In the early 2000s the successor owners of Wedgwood moved operations to Indonesia and the rest is history. “Wedgwood the showman, artist, scientist, entrepreneur and internationalist was elemental to the Georgian consumer society and Industrial Revolution.”

[Bob Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of facts, figures, dates, places and names of individuals. If you enjoy reading very detailed books you will enjoy it. As a retail manager for decades as well as a Workforce Development Professional during the last part of my career, I could appreciate this book on so many levels. Josiah Wedgwood was ahead of his time with his abilities to create various clay compositions and out of them make beautiful pottery and other related items. Josiah Wedgwood was also an outstanding designer and marketing and retail manager, able to identify trends far into the future. His use of "showrooms" to display his merchandise was genius.

In the epilogue of the book, when the author describes the mismanagement of Wedgwood held companies by incompetent upper management, especially in the 1990s and beyond, I was reminded of the same situation that happened at about the same time in the areas of North and South Carolina where I reside. Textile mills, in business for many generations, were closed one after another and their machinery and production shipped over to China and vicinity all for the sake of greed, the products to be manufactured by cheap, and often, slave labor. All the while, town after North and South Carolina town and their economies collapsed. I am saddened by the fate of the Wedgwood employees in England and the many towns their efforts built.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography of potter, entrepreneur and businessman Josiah Wedgwood which goes way beyond the life to encompass manufacturing, business, international trade and industrialisation in all their complexities. As the sub-title suggests, this is not just about the Potteries but about the transformation of Britain from a largely rural agricultural society to the powerhouse of industry which it became during these years, in large part due to the vison and innovative thinking of Wedgwood and others like him. Hunt fully explores Wedgwood’s contribution to this changing environment. The book sadly also chronicles the decline of the Wedgwood Company (and manufacturing in general) after his death. None of his children were capable of or willing to carry on his legacy. And then rapacious capitalism dealt the Potteries their death blow. A very depressing note to end on. How could we let it all go so wrong? Josiah Wedgwood was a remarkable man and Hunt pays him due homage. I found this a fascinating account of his life and times – and even learnt why we talk about potholes in our crumbling road system. A great read.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josiah Wedgwood was a man ahead of his times in many ways. In spite of a physical disability, his remarkable ability to experiment scientifically with clays from various parts of the world and ability to market his products propelled the Wedgwood name in the pottery industry. The story itself is rather dry and academic. The author often used long quotations in telling the story. These were usually cited. However, when the author referred to records such an unspecified tax list or inventory, the citations were lacking. I found this a completely unacceptable practice. The genealogist in me wanted to remind the author that "Complete and accurate source citations" should be included to meet standards. Toward the end of the book, we meet the Erasmus Darwin. Wedgwood's daughter Susanna married Robert Waring Darwin, and they were parents of Charles Darwin. I found the family connection interesting. I received an advance review copy through LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.

[Zack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads Giveaway - Most likely, if you're reading or considering reading this book, you have at least some sense of who Josiah Wedgwood is or have been captivated by his company's work (probably jasperware). This book's title is accurate in that it contains biographical information about Josiah Wedgwood, but also contains a fair amount of information about the political, social, industrial, and environmental aspects of the late 18th century. Wedgwood was part of the industrious revolution (which presaged the industrial revolution) and was a pioneer is aspect of time management, assembly line production, trade specialization, and marketing. The author, Tristram Hunt, an MP representing the original home of Wedgwood's pottery, writes in a slightly academic, but friendly and engaging manner. The only time his deviates from this tone is when he excoriates the most recent owners of the Wedgwood brand for offshoring and mismanagement. If you are interested in the history of business, enjoy the ware of Wedgwood, or just enjoy the style and tone of the 18th century, this book is worth a read.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent discussion of Josiah Wedgwood's life and work. While his advances in the world of pottery, including its design factors and manufacturing techniques are addressed, the author goes far beyond that aspect of his life to include his political and scientific interests - and the advances he brought to consumer marketing. Wedgwood was a "dissenter" or "non-conformist" in 18th century England because of his religious views. Those views led to his strong interests in personal freedom and the abolitionist cause. He worked with people like Watt, Franklin, Priestley, and Arkwright and developed new technology to improve manufacturing efficiency while also improving the lives of his workers.


Two bits of trivia not covered in the book are that Charles Darwin and Ralph Vaughan Williams were among his descendants - Wedgwood's interest in rational science may have influenced Darwin's work.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned a presentation on the Portland Vase as an art history student. In the process, I lost the scorn I had for the enormous, but seemingly stuffy Wedgewood collection in the Birmingham Museum of Art. I was disavowed of that misapprehension researching Josiah Wedgewood's dazzling progressive work and positions. The illustrious Hunt's biography was an entertaining and well- documented treatment. The emphasis is broadly on the output of the company and it's growth, in the context of the Enlightenment and Georgian culture. I particularly enjoyed this art historical- business history blend by the dishy, head of the V & A. As a former MP, Hunt offers more sincerety than others might, to the painful, cynical loss of jobs and heritage to Stoke-on-Trent from transparently money-grubbing arbitrageurs.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish reading this book, not because it is not interesting but because it is jam-packed with fascinating information about the Industrial Revolution. Wedgwood's life and career are re-told in bursts, with the development of industry and commerce in the UK as their backdrop, making this less a biography as a detailed sketch of Wedgwood's times. Sadly, anyone who reads it through, admiring throughout the versatility and business acumen of the first Josiah Wedgwood, will be dismayed by the final chapter in which the demise of the Wedgwood company since the 1990s is described - demonstrating, finally, how "big business" so often brings about the destruction of Britain's reputation for quality manufacturing.

[Gilion Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Tristram Hunt’s new biography, The Radical Potter, he looks deep into The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood and it is a fascinating story. The 1700s was an exciting era for ideas and industry and Wedgwood was in the center of both, pioneering innovations in manufacturing and marketing and championing political causes like the abolition of slaves.

Hunt draws directly from on Wedgwood archive materials, including business records and correspondence, making the story very real. For readers with an interest in the Industrial Revolution or the history of pottery, The Radical Potter is a must-read biography of the man who profoundly changed how we work and live.

[Sylvia Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early beginnings of the industrial revolution, capitalism, globalism, and consumerism are brought to light in this quite readable book on Josiah Wedgwood, a man clearly ahead of his time who overcame adversity to create a company of world renown while caring for his employees by providing homes and a community with parklike recreational opportunities. I choked up though to see how in this century, greed prevailed in a corporation takeover, leading to debt and the dismantling of what the founder had created. I would have given it 5 stars if not for the redundancies that sometimes crept in.

[Gary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book. Well researched, and detailed in every way. For me, I had trouble with the ending which continued on, after Josiah passed away, with the Wedgwood firm until it was destroyed by typical MBA money grubbing bastards. People without knowledge of the business they had bought. So typical, in todays world, so destructive to those with the skills these firms were built on, and products developed. It angers me beyond logic.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is easy to forget the extent of change that took place over the 18th Century and Wedgwood's life and contribution to the ceramics industry, very nicely set out in "The Radical Potter", is a perfect example of this. I would agree with Tristram Hunt's proposition that he was the Steve Jobs of his age.

[Malcolm France · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than just a well-researched biography, this book provides important and interesting context about the eighteenth century culture in which Wedgwood worked and to which he contributed much. And it would be hard to imagine a better qualified author: historian, local MP and V&A museum director. I had never been particularly interested in pottery but that has now changed!

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book suffered because it focused more on the patterns on the vases then the larger impact that Wedgewood had. There was not enough on the global impact or his abolitionist work which was essentially mentioned in passing. The author clearly loves his subject but it is not enough to carry this book.

[Grace Hoffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not reading much this summer -- it took me forever to get through this book. The prose style is a bit dense. But the story is interesting and it's so interesting to learn about one of the great modern entrepreneurs as well as an artist and even scientist in his own right. Trade with China -- a thorny issue then as now.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a detailed account of the contribution that Wedgewood, both man and brand, had on the history of Britain and the world. Wedgewood was synonymous with high quality British craft, unfortunately the incredible mismanagement saw the labor exported and craftsmanship disappear. I hope the UK can learn from Wedgewood and invest in British craftsmanship once more.

[Diana N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book about a not well known Enterprenuer and Businessman. This book was well researched and easy to follow. I also enjoyed the colorful picture inserts as well. Not a typical book I would pick up, but I feel like I learned some new things.

[Steven Bragg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does a fine job of blending extracts from Wedgwood's letters with the historical context, and also provides insights into the character of this consummate businessman. However, you REALLY have to be interested in ceramics!

[Kidlitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific historical account of the life and times of Josiah Wedgewood, master potter, entrepreneur, abolitionist and all around enlightened great man. Reads like the best novel, informs like the best textbook ever.