This book presents the living arts and artists of Turkey. It issimultaneously an ethnographic inquiry into the nature of art, an introduction tomodern Turkey, and a model study of folk art, combining the current theories offolklore, anthropology, cultural geography, and art history. It is also the mostcomprehensive analysis yet written of a single artistic tradition and the mostcomplete presentation available of the current practice of the great arts of theMiddle East, such as the weaving of carpets and shaping of stately ceramics. Glassieranges widely across media, but concentrates on calligraphy, woodworking, pottery, and carpet weaving. Throughout his focus is on the artists and their theories andpractices as well as the art they produce.