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In Search of the Color That Seduced the World
Bloomsbury
May 2011
On Sale: May 10, 2011
235 pages
ISBN: 1608195058
EAN: 9781608195053
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
For almost five millennia, in every culture and in every
major religion, indigo-a blue pigment obtained from the
small green leaf of a parasitic shrub through a complex
process that even scientists still regard as mysterious-has
been at the center of turbulent human encounters. Indigo is the story of this precious dye and its ancient
heritage: its relationship to slavery as the "hidden half"
of the transatlantic slave trade, its profound influence on
fashion, and its spiritual significance, which is little
recognized but no less alive today. It is an untold story,
brimming with rich, electrifying tales of those who shaped
the course of colonial history and a world economy. But Indigo is also the story of a personal quest: Catherine
McKinley is the descendant of a clan of Scots who wore
indigo tartan as their virile armor; the kin of several
generations of Jewish "rag traders"; the maternal
granddaughter of a Massachusetts textile factory owner; and
the paternal granddaughter of African slaves-her ancestors
were traded along the same Saharan routes as indigo, where a
length of blue cotton could purchase human life. McKinley's
journey in search of beauty and her own history ultimately
leads her to a new and satisfying path, to finally "taste
life." With its four-color photo insert and sumptuous
design, Indigo will be as irresistible to look at as it is
to read.
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