Cheese is alive and alive with meaning Heather Paxson s beautifully written anthropological study of American artisanal cheesemaking tells the story of how craftwork has become a new source of cultural and economic value for producers as well as consumers Dairy farmers and artisans inhabit a world in which their colleagues and collaborators are a wild cast of characters including plants animals microorganisms family members employees and customers As unfinished commodities living products whose qualities are not fully settled handmade cheeses embody a mix of new and old ideas about taste and value By exploring the life of cheese Paxson helps rethink the politics of food land and labor today