Building with Nature: Inspiration for the Arts and Crafts Home

This book is an expanded edition that looks at the roots of the Arts & Crafts movement in USA, which the author traces to a charismatic Swedennborgian minister Joseph Worcester, in the San Francisco area. A serious student of architecture, he and his friends formed the first Arts & Crafts society in the United States to encourage a simpler, less materialistic life in tune with nature, including a new architecture.

Freudenheim has done an enormous amount of detailed research, including letters and diaries. There are numerous explanatory notes, and an extensive bibliography. This should be very valuable to students of the movement.

One slight disappointment, surprising in 2005, is that all of the pictures are in black-and-white. A number of them are historic photographs, but not even ones especially taken for the book, including the cover shot are in color. There are some very nice shots, but color is one of the elements of design. The book itself is handsomely laid out with wide margins and clear print. ( )