The Anthroplogy of Turquoise

ELLEN MELOY FUND for Desert Writers

BOOKS
The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art, and Spirit		PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST 2003 Grand Prize Winner Banff Mountain Book Award for Adventure Travel - Juror's statement. The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (paperback)
By Ellen Meloy Pantheon (hardcover) (2002) It is the stone of the desert. It is the color of yearning. . . . Poke a shish kabob skewer through a globe at the Colorado Plateau and it will come out the other side on the Tibetan Plateau. More than all others, the cultures of Tibet and the native American Southwest have absorbed turquoise into their traditions, ceremonies, and folklore. ~ From The Anthropology of Turquoise REVIEWS Amazon.com - From reader review: "Did this ever happen to you, you close the pages of a well-written book and you just sigh for a minute, wishing it had not ended? And then as it happens you open up your daily newspaper and find out that the author has died, died even perhaps as you were reading and admiring her prose style? "Eyes Wide Open: A Review of The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy," By Jonathan Callard. A Globe of Witnesses, The Witness Magazine website. Montanan Online - The Magazine of the University of Montana, Spring 2004 - review by Paddy MacDonald. Booklist review (American Library Association reviews). High School Teachers: Random House review. Tangled up in blue, by Joshua Zaffos, High Country News, March 17, 2003 Canyonlands Natural History Association Bookstore - review. LISTEN TO ELLEN'S VOICE. All Things Considered, September 21, 2002 · Host Howard Berkes talks to author Ellen Meloy about her new book, The Anthropology of Turquoise. It's a look at how color and light inform human behavior, and in particular, the color turquoise, which ties together cultures from the American Southwest to ancient Persia and Afghanistan. (You will need RealPlayer to listen to this audio file -- download it free at http://www.real.com.)

FROM THE BOOK JACKET

"Exquisitely rendered. . . . Meloy’s gem-studded collection calls us to be mindful of the physical world, to see it—really see it—with fresh eyes." —Los Angeles Times

"Meloy’s vision of the world through turquoise-colored glasses is a unique, moving, self-effacing delight." —The Washington Post

"By the time you lift your eyes from the last page, you’ll be longing to clasp a piece of stone, to be surrounded by blue water. . . . Powerful and transporting—and funny." —The Times-Picayune

"Finely crafted, vigorously descriptive, dazzling in its insights into biology and culture." —Booklist

"[Meloy] crafts potent meditations on the desert landscape. . . . The Anthropology of Turquoise explores Meloy’s beloved Southwest—a region she knows intimately and describes with her trademark sharp wit." —Salt Lake Tribune

"Amusing and intelligent . . . the talented Meloy is a Southwestern voice to listen to." —Santa Fe New Mexican

"Smart, evocative, and memorable: Nature-writing done right." —Kirkus (starred review)

"Combine[s] the best of travel writing with fascinating slices of history in an irresistible invitation to open our eyes and our minds, taking beauty where we find it." —Kingston Springs Advocate

"Diverse, thoughtful, and humorous." —Albuquerque Journal

"A book of great beauty under which lies a drumbeat of grief and passion for the desert. Meloy is a perfect, often hilarious guide. Trust her on any river. There are images in this book I will never forget." —Nora Gallagher, author of Practicing Resurrection