Customer Reviews

Return of the Tribal: A Celebration of Body Adornment

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book offers little more to the reader than a collection of full color photos of various forms of body art. It is nice to look at, but the content is very biased and non-scholarly. The author oftens voices his opinion about what is 'acceptable' or 'attractive', and questions people who use body modification to "take things too far". There IS a wide variety of body modification discussed and shown in the book, however, the author often repeats things he had previously stated in the book, making for very little content of value. Overall, not one of the better books on the subject. Check out Bodies of Subversion by Margot Mifflin, or The Art of the Tattoo by Ferguson & Procter for better histories of tattooing, as well as any Modern Primatives issues.

"Return Of The Tribal" is a book that delves into body adornment cross-culturally and throughout history. The book is relatively short, but is packed with great photos and content.

If you don't already own Modern Primitives, you might want to start there first. This book doesn't have as good of written content, though I personally found it to have better and more varied photography.

Overall, the book is a must-have for the library of anyone interested in body modification (either on a tribal level or in Western culture). "Return Of the Tribal" could work as a (small) coffee table book or a reference text. Short, but very sweet.

I've got many books on tattooing and body piercing and I consider this one of my favourite. It looks at the possible reasons why people in the west get body decorations and compares them to the ritualistic purposes there are in tribal cultures. I like it a lot because it focuses on the ancient and traditional aspect of body piercing, tattooing and scarification. It contains excepional photographs(all colour) and goes into great depth and detail. It doesn't talk about body art in a superficial stand point but considers it as an art with a very ancient history. I feels its a very worthwhile read which i constantly reread and refer to and it never is boring.

This is a one of a kind book cuntains photos(full color) like I've never seen before! If your interested in learning about body art from all over the world, this a very good place to start. Check out "Modern Primatives" by V. Vale another great book on body-art. -CADAVER

if you want to research body modification I would suggest this and Modern Primitives. This book is rich with color photographs and indepth discriptions. A must buy for fans of the modification of flesh

While this book contains some great photos (which is what i was really after)the content is fairly basic and perhaps aimed at people who have not yet entered the world of body mod.
It would be a great book to present to young high school kids when attempting to teach them that people are different but that it's all good :)
Like i said, some of the pictures were great but i am otherwise disappointed with this purchase

I agree with the previous review. This is informative and has some decent photos. If you liked this book, then you'll love Modern Primitives - very informative and some great background on the artists - but take a leather strip to bite on when you check out some of the body modifications!