Customer Reviews

Spirit in the Stone: A Handbook of Southwest Indian Animal Carvings and Beliefs

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A great overview of fetishes, charms, and amulets made by Southwest Indian tribes. I like the mix of stories from Indian's folklore and the power from the fetish would provide to user. Now my collection of fetishes have now taken more meaning and understandings from Indian point of view. Also there is notes about material used in making the fetish. Why the color plays great role in fetish. Great reading and must reading if you collect fetishes from Southwest.

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, columnist and reviewer for MyShelf and author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered

Here they are!
Five guidebooks,all part of a series, that look and feel more like art books.

Five guidebooks so closely related that they become a library or set suitable to give as a gift to anyone who lives in, travels in or just loves the Southwest.

Published by Rio Nuevo Publishers, an imprint of Treasure Chest Books, these slender paperbacks have a different polish than most guidebooks, both outside and in. The covers have a satin-finish feel. The pictures in each are full color and so well done you may feel less tempted to buy a piece of art in any one of these categoriesor more tempted as the case may be. There are diagrams and maps in full color and other information like histories for the artists, the genealogy of related artists, etc. Anything that will help a reader/art lover to understand the subject better. Bibliographies, indexes, suggested readings and pronunciation guides are also included as needed.

Mostly, these are helpful well-written guides by knowledgeable authors like Kent McManis, Mark Bahti, and Robert Jeffries. Youll find them on Amazon and other sites that sell books under their separate titles and here they are:

A Guide to Zuni Fetishes and Carvings, both Volume I and Volume II
A Guide to Hopi Katsina Dolls
A Guide to Navaho Weavings
A Guide to Navaho Sandpaintings


(Carolyn Howard-Johnsons first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.
Her newly released Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remember has won three.)