A guide to identifying and dating rugs by means of weaving materials, providing historical background on the great Navajo weavers and traders.

Navajo blankets, rugs, and tapestries are the best-known, most-admired, and most-collected textiles in North America. There are scores of books about Navajo weaving, but no other book like this one. For the first time, master Navajo weavers themselves share the deep, inside story of how these textiles are created, and how their creation resonates in Navajo culture. Want to weave a high-quality, Navajo-style rug? This book has detailed how-to instructions, meticulously illustrated by a Navajo artist, from warping the loom to important finishing touches. Want to understand the deeper meaning? You'll learn why the fixed parts of the loom are male, and the working parts are female. You'll learn how weaving relates to the earth, the sky, and the sacred directions. You'll learn how the Navajo people were given their weaving tradition (and it wasn't borrowed from the Pueblos!), and how important a weaver's attitude and spirit are to creating successful rugs. You'll learn what it means to live in hózhó, the Beauty Way. Family stories from seven generations of weavers lend charm and special insights. Characteristic Native American humor is not in short supply. Their contribution to cultural understanding and the preservation of their craft is priceless.

Debunks the romanticist stereotyping of Navajo weavers and Reservation traders and situates weavers within the economic history of the southwest.

Geraldine, a goat, describes each step as she and her Navajo friend make a rug, from the hair clipping and carding to the dyeing and actual weaving.

Tells of the Ohio-born trader C.N. Cotton, who went to Arizona and New Mexico to trade with the Indians in the late 19th century, eventually settling in Gallup, New Mexico, where his trading post played a leading role in promoting the sale of Navajo blankets. Includes facsimilies of three early catalogs of Navajo blankets and rugs.

Full-color photographs accompanied by descriptions of styles, locations and histories of Navajo rugs.