_Nepalese Textiles_, by Susi Dunsmore. London: British Museum Press. 204 pp, Appendix: "Traditional Garment Patterns", Bibliography, Glossary, Index. 100 color and 80 b/w illustrations. ISBN: 0-7141-2510-5 Sterling L16.95 Reviewed by: H. Leedom Lefferts, Jr., Department of Anthropology, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey 07940, ABSTRACT: _Nepalese Textiles_ is an excellent volume, well- illustrated, copious in the socio-cultural contextualization of textile production and consumption, and well-crafted in explaining various techniques and designs. Its contents follow the usual three-part format of overall historic and folkloristic context, techniques, and in-depth discussions of textile production and use in various cultures in the Kingdom of Nepal. Its greatest value to cultural anthropologists and archaeologists lies in its detailed explanation of the context and methods of production and consumption that can lead us to ask further questions and examine in detail "culture", "system", "art", "gender", etc. This is an extremely well conceived and well written book by an authority in the field. _Nepalese Textiles_ is one of the best volumes in the British Museum Press series on textile traditions throughout the world. Other volumes in the series include _African Textiles_, by John Picton and John Mack, _Mexican Textiles_, by Chloe Sayer, and, on Asian subjects, _Thai Textiles_ by Susan Conway, and _Indonesian Textiles_, by Michael Hitchcock. The quality of the two Asian volumes varies; _Nepalese Textiles_ is by far the best of the three. It is a pleasure to read in and, indeed, study from this book. It is competently, carefully, fulsomely researched, written, and illustrated. It invites study not only for cultural and social correlates of textile production and use, but offers new and well-presented information on techniques and the technology of textile production. Ms Dunsmore is acknowledged, on the back cover, to have worked as a Lecturer in Art at the Kuching, Sarawak, Teachers' Training College "for eight years, and assisted with craft-related educational projects in Belize and The Gambia". She has also written two previous monographs on Nepalese weaving, _Weaving in Nepal_ (1983, second edition 1990) and _The Nettle in Nepal_ (1985). Thus, the volume under review is a continuation of work begun much earlier by a researcher/author who has the necessary technological, cross-cultural, and crafts background to make this project a success. She is to be applauded for the work she presents here. The volume is constructed in a traditional manner, leading the reader into the contexts for weaving through an introduction to Nepalese cultures and textiles, "Nature's Resources", and history and folklore. Then follow three chapters on "Raw Materials", "Dyes and Dyeing Techniques", and "Weaving and Textile Designs". The third part of the book surveys Nepal by region and ethnic group, from the "Middle Mountains: Limbu, Rai, Newar, and Gurung", to the "Himalayan North: Sherpa and Dol-pa", to "Subtropical South: Tharu, Rajbansi, and Geotextiles". Finally, there is a brief conclusion, an appendix on "Traditional Garment Patterns", Bibliography, Glossary, and Index. The volume is extremely well illustrated; the color illustrations present scenery, textiles, designs, and production; the black and white illustrations present historical photographs, situations in which detailed contrast is useful, and many line drawings diagraming weaving complexities. Excellent illustrations are a hallmark of this series; this volume excels in their judicious and instructive use. The work can only be said to suffer from a problem endemic to the way the world today is carved up geo-politically. The borders of Nepal are the creation of colonialism; those people currently resident within Nepal were and are part of much larger patterns of textile technology, production, and distribution systems than the Kingdom of Nepal now encompasses. Additionally, textiles were and are only one aspect of larger crafts/art complex that Euro-American definitions have bisected. Ms Dunsmore recognizes the artificiality of current political and cultural definitions by alluding to trade networks, migrations, and diffusions which have affected textile production. On the one hand, she does not go beyond the limits of the book's charter to chart hypotheses as to, e.g., the cultural geography of textiles in the Himalayas, nor does she integrate textiles into indigenous crafts/art complexes (cf. Slusser 1982). On the other hand, however, the book is valuable because it is so well done that it can become an essential reference for the researcher who attempts to chart such relations and associations. As a cultural anthropologist I also wish to stress the value of this volume - and the study of textiles generally - for our discipline. As the examination of material culture expands to become, again, a significant portion of the core of our work, we must ask ourselves about those aspects of material culture which might be more conducive to furthering profitable questions. I wish to submit the proposition - not a new one (cf. Turner 1980, Geirnaert-Martin 1992) - that textiles can be crucial to understanding cultural systems. Textiles are, obviously, symbolic; they are also technological: the technology involved in textile production encompasses some of the most complex machines at a people's command. Additionally, this production was usually under the control of one gender and thus reflected on and may have perpetuated the importance of this gender in a culture. Finally, textiles - as with other items of material culture - may permit the mapping of technologies, production, and consumption across and between "cultural systems"; material culture provides a way to ask questions about a "culture" and relations between and across "cultures" so that we can examine what we as anthropologists mean by one of our most fundamental terms (cf. Gittinger and Lefferts 1992). I encourage all anthropologists interested in material culture as well as textiles - both cultural anthropologists and archaeologists - to examine this volume and ask about its use in our larger contexts. The volume, as it stands alone, is an excellent work. As it becomes incorporated into more comparative, comprehensive studies, it, and other like it, can only increase in value. REFERENCES Geirnaert-Martin, Danielle C. 1992 _The Woven Land of Laboya: Socio-economic ideas and values in West Sumba, eastern Indonesia_. CNWS Publications No. 11. Leiden, The Netherlands: Centre of Non-Western Studies, Leiden University. Gittinger, Mattiebelle, and H. Leedom Lefferts, Jr. 1992 _Textiles and the Tai Experience in Southeast Asia_. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum. Slusser, Mary Shepherd 1982 _Nepal Mandala: A cultural study of the Kathmandu Valley_, two volumes. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Turner, Terence S. 1980 The Social Skin. In _Not Work Alone: A cross-cultural view of activities superfluous to survival_. Beverly Hills, California: Sage.