CRAFTY IS AS CRAFTY DOES

those chronicling the past relied on documents, leaving out of the story the mass of the population unable to write or disinclined to create books, journals, and official reports of the sort historians relied on. More recently, practitioners, Glenn Adamson ambitiously tries a next step, promising “a single view of craft in America… to tell the story of America through the eyes of its artisans.” He sets himself a challenging goal and deserves kudos for the extent to which he succeeds, even if conceptual flaws keep the volume from being all he intended.