Review by Choice Review
Thompson does indeed cover the textiles of Central and South America at an introductory level that would be useful for undergraduates in textiles, fashion design, and art. Ten chapters discuss different aspects of textiles ranging from historical background and designs to the final decorative finishes. Each chapter provides historical aspects of the topic with more information on practices today. However, there are some bibliographic problems. The author refers to a book titled Cotton written in the 1870s by a woman identified as S.W. A search in WorldCat provided the information on Cotton, by Susan Warner, published in 1874 in London by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This seems a good match, as the author says the book contains many religious references. The next item not completely identified in the bibliography is by Robert Liu on spindle whorls. Another search showed that he is coeditor of Ornament, and an e-mail resulted in the complete citation in Ornament's former title, The Bead Journal, v. 3, no. 3-4, p. 87-103. Web site listings are provided for commercial endeavors but not museums. An excellent introductory overview. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals. N. A. Mackey Missouri State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.