"A groundbreaking and endlessly surprising history of how artisans created America, from the nation's origins to the present day"-- Provided by publisher.

Examine any phase of our nation's struggle to define itself, and artisans are there: from the silversmith Paul Revere and the revolutionary carpenters and blacksmiths who hurled tea into Boston Harbor, to today's "maker movement." Adamson shows that craft has long been implicated in debates around equality, education, and class. Artisanship has often been a site of resistance for oppressed people, such as enslaved African-Americans whose skilled labor might confer hard-won agency under bondage, or the Native American makers who adapted traditional arts into statements of modernity. He argues that these artisans' stories speak to our collective striving toward a more perfect union. -- adapted from jacket