Skill: The Making of Modern Civilization

by Paul Greenhalgh

This book is an examination of the role and history of skill in the modern age, especially in relation to the processes of modernisation and modernity that have transformed our world.

Skill has become a controversial issue, and here Paul Greenhalgh explores how it came to be so. The book is both controversial and readable, centring on the crucial period of 1870-2013. At core a cultural history, Skill is also a thesis concerned with the full range of human activity where skill has become important enough to be considered a thing in itself – science, cooking, football, popular music, pornography. This is not simply a book for those interested in the arts, but one for all who are concerned with the economic, social, and psychological aspects of the politics of modern lifestyle. It is about the role of skill in life.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published January 2, 2025

About the author

Paul Greenhalgh is Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He is an expert on the Art Nouveau period and a leading scholar in the field of decorative arts.