This major survey gives an incisively critical account of the lives, theories and work of the architects of the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in England and quickly influenced Europe and North America. It highlights the complex contradictions they tried to resolve in accommodating or rejecting the developments of the new machine age, and in meeting the cost of materials and craftsmanship, which forced them to work mainly for a wealthy elite class.

This volume shows with enthusiasm and sophistication how the ideas of this fascinating movement influenced the California and Prairie Schools and Art Nouveau, and how it led ultimately to the development of neo-Georgianism and the growth of the machine-worshipping Modern movement after World War I.