In this detailed and compendious account of a complex subject, Stana Nenadic presents a history of change-the adaptation of her title. Her account of the effects on craftspeople of industrialization, technological development, colonial expansion, and social change is structured around places and practices in Scotland, which relate to each other in a neat sequence. There are early chapters on craft industries in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Highlands. The latter leads to segments on the nineteenth-century boom in country house building, with its links to English Royalty, and then the growth of tourism which was articulated in the invention of Scottish national myths. The book continues with an extensive account of the representation of Scottish crafts at the national and international exhibitions of industry that followed the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the final chapter on amateur craft provides extensive evidence of the genuine benefit that craft making can bring to individuals. The conclusion draws the account together with observations on the effects of changes in the twentieth century on craft practices, and the legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement for contemporary and future crafts. Nenadic has produced a magnificent and very readable resource that fills a gap in our understanding of the relationships between the various elements at play in Scotland in the nineteenth century that affected craftspeople and crafts practices. The introduction contains an account of early state support for crafts, which is a theme that recurs in the context of exhibitions, education, and training. The book is clearly the product of years of careful research and alongside the elements of her account that cover the institutional, commercial, and dynastic aspects of her topic, she draws out details of individuals. These parts of the book are the most compelling aspects of the subject, and in an historical account, are often necessarily and tantalizingly out of reach.
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