“All Join Hands: Dudley Laufman and the New England Country Dance Tradition” by Thomas S. Curren. $25. Peter E. Randall Publisher.

If Dudley Laufman had not taken the poet’s road less traveled, New Hampshire and New England country dancing and music would be much the poorer for it. And if Thomas Curren had not written his new book, “All Join Hands,” devotees of these centuries-old traditions, as well as cultural historians, would be cheated of a valuable chronicle.