"This is a vital, worthwhile book that fills an important need and is very much in phase with current anthropological thinking.... This anthology will be particularly rewarding to readers interested in traditional indigenous communities and the insight gleaned from a detailed consideration of cloth and clothing."

—American Anthropologist

"The essays in this book are informative and a pleasure to read. Collectively they make the reader want to journey to Mesoamerica and the Andes to view in person the cloth and clothing of the indigenous communities."

—Latin American Anthropology Review

In this volume, anthropologists, art historians, fiber artists, and technologists come together to explore the meanings, uses, and fabrication of textiles in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia from Precolumbian times to the present. Originally published in 1991 by Garland Publishing, the book grew out of a 1987 symposium held in conjunction with the exhibit "Costume as Communication: Ethnographic Costumes and Textiles from Middle America and the Central Andes of South America" at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University.