Redesigning the World: William Morris, the 1880s, and the Arts and Crafts

"This is a demanding but at the same time a very readable and enjoyable book. It is not so much a biography of William Morris as a consideration of him as a political and esthetic phenomenon and as the founder of a number of organizations--the Century Guild, The Art Workers Guild, and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Mr. Stansky examines them with a learning that is never pedantic, frequently humorous, and always intelligent."--Quentin Bell, The New York Times Book Review.

"Stansky's book is at its most original and compelling in analyzing the conflicts of the conservative and progressive art worlds of the 1880s and the internal bureaucratic and ideological tensions within the more progresive organizations themselves. . . . A pioneering example of how seemingly 'old-fashioned' concerns and procedures in political history or the history of art can take on a renewed vitality when combines."--Ian Britain, Journal of Modern History.

320 pages. 1985; SPOSS edn. 1996. Paperback: $17.95

ISBN 0-030664-15-9