Agaves of Continental North America (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

New in paperback Spring 2004, this is an indispensable guide to agaves. The uses of agaves are as many as the arts of man have found it convenient to devise. At least two races of man have invaded Agaveland during the last ten to fifteen thousand years, where, with the help of agaves, they contrived several successive civilizations. The region of greatest use development is Mesoamerica. Here the great genetic diversity in a genus rich in use potential came into the hands of several peoples who developed the main agricultural center of the Americas. Perhaps, as the Aztec legends suggest, it was the animals that first showed man the edibility of agave. Evolution in use ranges all the way from the coincidental and spurious, through tool and food-drink subsistence with mystical overlay, to the practical specialties of modem industry and art. The historic period of agave will be outlined here as briefly as that complicated development will allow.

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New in paperback Spring 2004, this is an indispensable guide to agaves. The uses of agaves are as many as the arts of man have found it convenient to devise. At least two races of man have invaded Agaveland during the last ten to fifteen thousand years, where, with the help of agaves, they contrived several successive civilizations. The region of greatest use development is Mesoamerica. Here the great genetic diversity in a genus rich in use potential came into the hands of several peoples who developed the main agricultural center of the Americas. Perhaps, as the Aztec legends suggest, it was the animals that first showed man the edibility of agave. Evolution in use ranges all the way from the coincidental and spurious, through tool and food-drink subsistence with mystical overlay, to the practical specialties of modem industry and art. The historic period of agave will be outlined here as briefly as that complicated development will allow.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 670 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (November 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816507759
• ISBN-13: 978-0816507757
• Product Dimensions: 670 x 10 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,030,605 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of the Agaves is back in print!, January 26, 1998

By	David L. Eppele [e-mail] (Bisbee, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Back by Popular Demand The University of Arizona Press called this week, to let me know that they have reprinted Dr. Howard Scott Gentry's Bible of the Agaves..."Agaves of Continental North America." This book, originally printed in 1982, is an indispensable guide to the Agaves, a group of plants that have been used by the people of Mesoamerica for well over 9,000 years. With a copy of this book in your fat little hands, you can learn how to brew up a few cups of killer Mescal and weave a mat to rest on while you contemplate the authority of your brew... Dr. Gentry gave twenty-five years of his life to the Agaves, conducting field research from central Nevada south to the islands off the coast of Panama. Widely recognized as the world's leading authority on the Agaves, Dr. Gentry was an agricultural explorer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than 30 years. I first met Dr. Gentry while on a field trip in Mexico in the late `50's. I was asked to be his mailman. I delivered mail from the U.S. to him and took mail back to post from El Paso. I learned more about the Agave family in one night around the campfire than I could have learned in two semesters at a University. I was invited to a reception honoring Dr. Gentry back in 1982 at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. The occasion was a giant celebration of the publication of the book Agaves of Continental North America. Part of the funding for the book was from a grant from the National Academy of Science. A day after the reception, Dr. Gentry took me over to his office to share some field data and photos with me. When I asked Dr. Gentry about the fine points of funding research and writing, he smiled and said: "You know, I would rather re-write the entire book and do all of the field work all over again than I would fill out all the paper work necessary to obtain funding from the National Academy." Dr. Gentry's book is one of those rare books that speak to the scholar and to the layman. Every serious student of desert plants needs a copy of this book. I know that Dr. Gentry is in Agave heaven, visiting with Mayahuel, the Goddess of Agaves and together, they are profusely thanking the University of Arizona Press, for this important reprint!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the classic books on agaves: a resource., April 7, 1997

By A Customer

Exhaustive, well-written, highly-detailed, indispensible for a correct classification of agaves. Nothing currently in print is as authoratative and complete

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too black and white, June 13, 2008

By	B. Rowe (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Agaves of Continental North America (Paperback)

I decided to keep this book after being very disappointed in it. I did not expect to receive a book of black and white photos only. I wish it had been printed in the product review as I would never had bought it. To post it back to America was not worth the expense to me.
Yes it is good for description and many drawings and photos for identifying.