"e;A fascinating study not only of the work of the 18th-century American artisan but of his place in pre-Revolutionary society."e; — The New YorkerIn colonial America, craftsmen comprised the largest segment of the population, after farmers. They were cabinetmakers, silversmiths, pewterers, printers, painters, engravers, blacksmiths, brass button-makers, shipwrights, hatters, shoemakers, and other artisans, and they manufactured the tools, clothing, household goods, and other essential products needed to sustain life and trade in the New World.In this superb study, a distinguished American historian examines the lives and work of American craftsmen in the years before the Revolution — the golden age of colonial craftsmanship — showing them at work, at play, at worship, at school, at home, competing in their trades, striving to get ahead, and playing a dynamic role as citizens in bringing about American independence.Natural resources, special crafts of the different colonies, and New World "e;marketing"e; of those crafts are closely studied. Students of American history, culture, and the arts and crafts will find this a richly rewarding study — authoritative, well-researched, and highly readable. It is further enhanced with carefully chosen illustrations from Diderot's Encyclopédie, the great 18th-century reference work on technology, whose detailed engravings accurately represent the crafts of the period.