Turquoise Trail: Native American Jewelry and Culture of the Southwest [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Jay Foxx (Author), Carol Karasik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1993

This collection of 146 stunning colorplates shows turquoise in the context in which it is worn and used today. Images depict Native American rituals, daily life, pow-wows, rodeas, portraits, and the landscape and ruins of the Southwest, as well as some of the finest pieces made in the last 50 years.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Culture is the emphasis of this stunning picture book. Foxx's ( Living Maya , Abrams, 1987) exquisite color photographs of Southwestern Indians and their environment are interspersed by a text that links the legends of Mesoamerica to contemporary indigenous beliefs. Specifically, Karasik (editor of The People of the Bat , LJ 6/15/88) relates ancient stories from the peoples of Mexico about the powers and meanings of turquoise. The history of this semiprecious stone is deftly if elliptically told as one theme in an overarching history--an approach that will disappoint those looking mainly for information on the design history of Native American jewelry of the Southwest. Dexter Cirillo's Southwestern Indian Jewelry ( LJ 12/92) offers a practical survey of developments in the craft. Though the text contains a few factual errors (e.g., Mexican Hat is in Utah, not Arizona), this fine introduction to its varying subjects is recommended for general collections.
- Paula A. Baxter, NYPL
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First edition (October 5, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810938693
• ISBN-13: 978-0810938694
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You might want to keep looking, February 9, 2009

By 

Lori L. Owens (Henderson, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turquoise Trail: Native American Jewelry and Culture of the Southwest (Hardcover)

I had had The Turquoise Trail on my wish list for quite a while. It was highly recommended as a good source for information and pictures of the pre-history and history of the use of turquoise throughout the Southwest and elsewhere.

I expected a lot: careful scholarship, clear and cohesive writing, documentation, beautiful photographs, myths about turquoise from various tribes throughout the Southwest, and in-depth information and photographs detailing the ways in which various Southwestern people have used and continue to use turquoise in their art and jewelry.

While the book does touch on most of my expectations, it does so in a somewhat shallow manner and falls way short of its promise to the reader. Only 1 section of the colored photographs are devoted to turquoise jewelry from the Southwest, and certainly those photographs are not representative of the distinctive styles and techniques of the Southwestern tribes who produce the turquoise jewelry the region is famous for.

The biggest disappointment is the writing. While the book does have an extensive bibliography, there are few in-text citations showing where the sources are employed. The writing is flowery and often more conjecture than scholarship, making it difficult to discern solid historical fact from imagination.

Fortunately, I paid about half the current price of the book because I stumbled upon a new listing offered at a low rate. Since I purchased the book, I haven't found it listed that cheaply again.

If you are looking for an interesting though sometimes hard to follow read on turquoise in the Southwest, you might actually like this book. But if you are looking for a book based on solid scholarship and historical accuracy, then you just might want to keep looking.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice pictures but not terribly useful otherwise, April 26, 2010

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turquoise Trail: Native American Jewelry and Culture of the Southwest (Hardcover)

This book is a bit of a mixed bag, with more about American Indian culture as it relates to turquoise, and the legends around it than the stone itself or the jewellery that is made out of it. Personally, I didn't find it a terribly helpful book to learn about either American Indian turquoise jewllery or the people who made it.

The book contains a lot of speculative history around turquoise and has a whole section related to Indian legends, not all of them strictly turquoise related. The pictures are probably the highlight of this book and show modern turquoise jewellery being worn at ceremonial events and pictures of the south-western deserts where the stone is found. Aside from that this is a hard book to seriously refer to as a refernce on turquoise jewellery or it's history.