Verschwundene Arbeit

Rudi Palla's meticulously compiled archive of extinct crafts. A cultural history of work through vanished professions. A detailed and entertaining reading book. What did a knacker, a fish-bone remover, a caulker, a pleasure fireworks maker, or a planet seller do? Most of our ancestors spent their lives engaged in activities of which we know nothing today. The rapid transformation of the labor market has left behind hundreds of extinct professions. The extent of highly specialized skills that have been lost is hard to measure. Like an archaeologist, Rudi Palla uncovers in this collection all those activities that we can barely imagine today. This carefully edited and lovingly illustrated book is a guide through the sediments of human effort, a treasure and wonder chamber, equally rich in precision.