Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than �skilled manual labor,� Richard Sennett maintains that the computer
programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman�s work. Craftsmanship
names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves
developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most
distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections
between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work
in today�s world.
The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skill�from the technical demands to the obsessive energy required
to do good work. Craftsmanship leads Sennett across time and space, from ancient Roman brickmakers to Renaissance
goldsmiths to the printing presses of Enlightenment Paris and the factories of industrial London; in the modern
world he explores what experiences of good work are shared by computer programmers, nurses and doctors, musicians,
glassblowers, and cooks. Unique in the scope of his thinking, Sennett expands previous notions of crafts and craftsmen
and apprises us of the surprising extent to which we can learn about ourselves through the labor of making physical
things.