Writer’s note: All the projects for “The American Peasant” are complete. Now I just have to finish up the writing. Below is the final Foreword for the book. Finished chapters will be released – in order – as they are completed.
“To my friends, the American millionaires, to whom I have given the proceeds of many years of toil on a Nebraska farm, all of whom have leisure, and some of whom have brains enough to comprehend political and social science, this work is respectfully dedicated.”
— T.G. TIBBLES. “The American Peasant: A Timely Allegory.” F.J. Schulte & Co., Chicago, 1892.
I’ve wasted the following two pages of pulp and ink because the subject matter of this book might seem odd for a woodworking text. This book deals with matters of religion, spirituality and magic. These are fascinating topics, but they are not what drew me to this work. Just like my book “Campaign Furniture” wasn’t written from a love of empire, war or colonization.
For most of my career I have sought to share aspects of the craft that have been ignored or nearly forgotten. If you are a woodworker in North America, it’s easy to think that the craft begins with birdhouses, travels through the villages of the Shakers and the factories of the Arts & Crafts movement, and ends somewhere with Midcentury Modern Furniture.
It’s also easy to forget that for most of human civilization, the entire f-ing world was built of wood (plus some rocks and a few pieces of hardened metal). Most people’s jobs dealt with wood, such as making crates or barrels or traveling long distances on wooden boats and carriages. Other workers created everything else society needed by exploiting the tree, from paper to charcoal.
Every culture that was surrounded by trees used them to create a different furniture tradition. And many of these cultures are absolutely invisible to Western woodworkers.
Whenever I travel abroad or simply visit the British Museum (cultural ransacker extraordinaire), I am dumbstruck by the diversity of woodwork across time and cultures. Westerners – myself included – have seen only a glimpse of the beautiful ways that people have split, shaped and adorned wood to fulfill a basic need or honor a higher power.
If our myopic view of the craft is ever going to change, then we will need a lot more woodworkers. So here is my “want ad” for everyone and anyone to join the search.
<Clears throat. Speaks in the deep voice of Klaatu from “Forbidden Planet.” Or Morgan Freeman. Or… dammit, whatever voice you have.>
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