Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture Book

Author Kerry Pierce writes that the simple, "unadorned" shapes of Shaker furniture "are shapes worthy of our appreciation in their own right." This insightful remark is the core of Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture, a reverential look at the sturdy, functional wood works of the Mercer County colony and the talented, enigmatic people who built them.

Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture is part eye-catching coffee table book, part history lesson (with an amusing interpretation of the Cane Ridge camp meeting of 1801) and part New Yankee Workshop, complete with measured drawings by Pierce's brother, Kevin, and detailed examinations of several Shaker pieces. It is adorned with photographer Al Parrish's images of Shaker Village, the woodworking shop there, and furniture from the sect's 19th century heyday. It also contains photos of some of the residents of the communal settlement taken near the end of its decades-long run.

Pierce is an author of several woodworking books and a professional furniture maker specializing in Shaker and Shaker-inspired works. The book is an expanded version of a five-part series that appeared in Popular Woodworking magazine.

(This review first appeared in Kentucky Monthly magazine.)