Redesigning the World Audiobook By Peter Stansky cover art

Redesigning the World

William Morris, the 1880s and the Arts and Crafts

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Redesigning the World

By: Peter Stansky
Narrated by: Michael Bonner
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Socialist, philosopher, and poet William Morris (1834 - 1896) was at the center of the design renaissance of the 1880s, not only because of his celebrated hostility to aspects of machine culture, but because of his success as a designer and businessman whose work had enormous influence on the next generation of artists, craftsmen, and designers.

"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 Arts Workers Guild, and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Dr. Stansky examines them with a learning that is never pedantic, frequently humorous and always intelligent." (The New York Times book review)

Peter Stansky is professor of history at Stanford University and the author of numerous works on British history.

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This scholarly text provides an interesting discussion of the life and times of Morris and the arts and crafts movement. But, the reader’s use of accents for quoted text was extremely annoying. I prefer for scholarly works to be read, not performed.

Interesting, but annoyingly read

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I really, really tried, but the reader ruined this book for me. Each and every quote is a new obnoxious accent. Why?

The narrator

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I found the narrator’s voice to be moving and true to the text. I would recommend this audio book to anyone wanting to learn more about the arts and crafts movement.

Great performance and story

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Firstly, please don't make phony accents when quoting people. Not sure where these different British dialects come from, but it seems the narrator just makes it up. There is even a "gay" accent near the end. Bone crunching.

On top of that, the reader has a cadence that is incomprehensible. Sometimes I think it is being read by a really bad computer app or something.

You should get your money back when something is this bad.

Worst performance I've encountered.

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