This book is a
refreshingly different approach to exploring the topics of woodworking,
craftsmanship, and tool collecting. It introduces a previously unknown
housewright who also made furniture and wooden planes in the 1770s.
The author shares his excitement learning that this woodworker was
a Minuteman who served in a number of the battles of the American
Revolution as the war boiled over just outside Boston in 1775.
Although historical
in nature, the author uses storytelling to share the life
and work of this man along with brief passages about the battles he
served in. Eventually he explores why the war started there around
Boston – what did freedom mean to this woodworker and his neighbors?
The unusual fabric of the story is interwoven with the author’s
experience of freedom while riding his Harley-Davidson, enjoying nature
out on the open road. Ultimately, the reader is challenged to think
about what freedom means to us every day of our lives.
Michael J Hanley
is the proprietor of Autumn Woods Studio and has pursued fine woodworking
over the course of 35 years. In many ways his own life and work have
paralleled that of a housewright and joiner of the 1770s, leaving
him in a unique position to relate the story he shares with us in
this new book.
