Wood: Craft, Culture, History - Hardcover

Green, S J D

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670038016 ISBN 13: 9780670038015

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

We build our houses with it, burn it for warmth, carve it for beauty, sail in it, sit on it, play with it, and fight with ityet how much do we really understand about the history and culture of wood? In this rich and fascinating book, Harvey Green examines how wood in all its variety of form and function has contributed to an extraordinary range of human endeavors.

Wood reveals the history and culture of a substance that has been a central part of human life throughout the world for thousands of years. From the prized whorls of birds-eye maple to the oak and pine that made navies and empires, from the breathtaking stave churches of Norway to the enduring popularity of the Windsor chair, from the magic of turning to the grace of a Chinese chair, and from the botany of the baseball bat to the stunning carving of Native Americans of the northwest coast, Wood decodes how a seemingly common material has come to signal class, status, and authenticity. Using the historians craft and the woodworkers hand, Green has fashioned an authoritative book sure to interest all who love this amazing material, appreciate its history, and care about its future.

About this title

About the Author:

Harvey Green teaches history at Northeastern University in Boston and works in wood at his shop in rural New Hampshire. He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar and the author of three well- regarded books on American material culture.

From Booklist:

Histories of materials continue to rise in popularity, exemplified by this excursion into the uses and aesthetics of wood. Green, a student and practitioner of the craft of woodworking, spans the remarkable range of objects created from trees throughout human history. In addition to defining terms, such as the distinction between hard- and softwoods, Green reiterates throughout this fluent and pleasing work the uniqueness of wood, which contributes to its attraction. No two pieces are alike in appearance, and specific species of trees are preferred for specific purposes: ash for baseball bats, oak for ships, cedar for furniture. Whatever object Green investigates, he discovers its layers of historical, commercial, environmental, and artistic significance, not least in the substitution for wood by other materials. Despite this trend, however, wood is always more appealing to sight and touch than its competition: nobody loves a titanium golf club the way they do a persimmon-headed driver. Sophisticated but approachable, Green's work richly satisfies curiosity about the subject. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0670038016
• ISBN 13: 9780670038015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496