Matthew Crawford – political philosopher and motorcycle repairman – has published an important new book entitled Shop Class as Soul Craft. The book has already been exerpted in the New York Times Magazine and is beginning to be discussed widely in various venues. Tomorrow Matt will be appearing on the Diane Rehm Show, which is broadcast in the D.C. area between 10 a.m. and noon.
Front Porch Republic will feature a symposium on Matt’s book in about a month’s time, featuring a number of our regular contributors as well as invited guests. Stay tuned! And, in the meantime, pick up a copy of Matt’s book. It’s first rate.
Update: A recording of Matt’s discussion with Diane Rehm is now available online. Check it out.
Ken Myers who produces the excellent Mars Hill Audio Journal published a “reprint” of Matthew Crawford’s article by the same name in The New Atlantis (Summer 2006). Ken Myers reading:
http://www.marshillaudio.org/catalog/arp002.asp
Ezra Klein talks a bit about the book’s thesis here, and he makes a couple of important points, some of them without him realizing it.
This book and the recent article in the Sunday Times Magazine takes a worthy sledge hammer to the modern conceit that “labor” is for the unthinking brute or that thinking is only done with clean hands and a lab coat or necktie. Glad to see you brought it up to everyone’s attention.
Comments are closed.