Although first published in 1923, to the reader newly acquainted with its pages, The Wheelwrightâs Shop may seem like a revelation. It describes the life and work of third-generation English wheelwright George Sturt near the end of the nineteenth centuryâa time shortly before efficiency and economies of scale became the sole factors governing the craftsmanâs methods of production and personal values. Like a visitor from a long-past age, Sturt describes a social milieu where craft, work, art, and life were still intertwinedâand not separated into isolated spheres. The Wheelwrightâs Shop provides both a technical analysis of its protagonistâs craft and a picturesque account of the daily life of such craftsmen in turn-of-the-century Englandâwhile also quietly lamenting the loss of both. May this bookâs stirring account of the âtrue workâ that we abandoned, and the quiet peace and simplicity that accompanied it, inspire growing numbers to seek out creative alternatives to our numbing work landscape and a revival of the spiritual dignity of work.
