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Craftland

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Craftland

By: James Fox
Narrated by: James Fox
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Connect with Britain’s extraordinary heritage and be awakened to the beauty all around you with the Sunday Times bestselling, soul-stirring journey to Craftland that reveals a richer, more meaningful way of living - by award-winning historian and broadcaster James Fox.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO NON-FICTION BOOK AWARD 2025*

For generations, what we made with our hands shaped who we were. The skills and knowledge passed down to us built our communities and defined our regions. And if you know where to look, they still do.

In Craftland, James Fox seeks out Britain’s last great craftspeople – those who are keeping our vanishing trades and traditions alive. Through them, we witness not only the living past but a deeper, more connected way of living today: one that is not yet lost and might still shape our future.

This soul-stirring journey shows that Britain is still a craft land, if only we have eyes to see it.

‘Inspiring’ Sunday Times
‘Wonderful’ Michael Morpurgo
‘Enchanting’ Amol Rajan
‘I read it in two gulps with delight’ Andrew Marr
‘This extraordinary book will leave you awestruck and inspired’ Xand van Tulleken
‘Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving – a treat to treasure’ Lucy Worsley
‘A joy’ Edmund de Waal


© James Fox 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Art Crafts & Hobbies Customs & Traditions Europe Great Britain Social Sciences Highlander
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Critic reviews

An impassioned and inspiring account of the extraordinary men and women still doing traditional artisanal work in Britain
Craftland is a book that shimmers with love for a dwindling world of meticulous, patient labour … Lyrical … Deftly written and well researched
Superb … A book with many highlights … [Fox] brings his critical intelligence to platform the usually silent process of mastering a craft. I read the book with admiration not only for the remarkable subjects individually, but also the human spirit that unites them all
If you want to know about Britain and yourself, read this book … This is a tremendous book that urges us – in spite of the seductions of crass modernity – to believe in the craftspeople, living and dead, who made us who we are.
Meet the weavers, watchmakers and wheelwrights keeping Britain’s noble craft traditions alive … Fox effortlessly persuades the reader about the superiority of all things crafted
Utterly enchanting (Amol Rajan)
This hugely absorbing book is so full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and of creativity over the ages. It’s such an important story to tell and told so compellingly. Wonderful (Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse)
A joy (Edmund de Waal)
Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving - a treat to treasure (Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home)
Craftland offers insights into the future as well as the past. It is a close-up study of human work which arrives in a moment when we’re all trying to understand what that means (Ian Leslie, author of John and Paul)
All stars
Most relevant
Beautifully told..very evocative and a powerful reminder of some of the things that truly do make Britain great

Wonderfully told human story of British craft

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My book of the year, and it's only Jan. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Packed with fascinating history and detail about various crafts/trades and the people quietly pushing against the tide of automation and mass production. Thought-provoking and poignant, but also heartening to hear of the skill, tenacity, vision and ingenuity of the craftspeople who are finding ways to make their crafts relevant today and into the future. Philosophical, deeply respectful, moving, absorbing and vital - a refreshing antidote to the many ways in which our modern world has failed our most fundamental needs, providing an environment in which so many of us have lost touch with our hands, our bodies, our purpose, our souls, our selves, together with our relationship with, and appreciation of, things. Above all, human. This book has, for me at least, provided food for thought long after the final page. Superb 🙌🙏

Outstanding

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Thoughtful evocative sad and yet hopeful. I would recommend this to anyone who has engaged with an object and felt wonder.

Engaging audio wonderfully read

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I learned something new to me at a minute-by-minute rate. Intimate encounters with the skills and approaches which are needed to sustain some of the crafts which usually stay in the periphery of our lives. I'm certain to listen again. Wonderful stuff.

Enlightening, thought-provoking and entertaining

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I learnt so much from this book. I am from bedfordshire originally, from one of the villages mentioned, and I had always heard of someone on the river who cut rushes. but learning the whole story of what she does was incredible.

it was an incredible book and made me feel proud to be a crafts person, in a way that I have never quite felt before. learning the heritage of crafts in England was fantastic and inspiring in a way I cannot quite describe.

unknown heritage

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