Reviews
"A unique, significant monument. The research is simply stupendous. An exceptional work." -James Lockhart, University of California, Los Angeles, author of The Nahuas after the Conquest, "The definitive work for decades to come on this important topic, and a model of innovative research crossing traditional disciplinary and methodological boundaries. It unites the pre- and postconquest periods, imperial core and regional settings, pictorial and textual sources, and language and visual image." --Rebecca Horn, University of Utah, author of Postconquest Coyoacan, "A unique, significant monument. The research is simply stupendous. An exceptional work." --James Lockhart, University of California, Los Angeles, author of The Nahuas after the Conquest, "This is an important contribution to pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican studies. Staying remarkably focused throughout the book, the author thoroughly describes and insightfully interprets the insignia of rank of the Nahua (Aztec) peoples both before and after the Spanish conquest, placing these insignia in broad contexts. A crucial feature of the book is its use of an extraordinary variety of sources, revealing new patterns and variations (especially regional) in the use of status-related insignia and showing their persistence after the Spanish conquest. Beyond its interpretive value, this book is also a particularly useful reference work for related disciplines." -Frances Berdan, California State University, San Bernardino, author of The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society and coeditor of The Codex Mendoza, "A unique, significant monument. The research is simply stupendous. An exceptional work." --James Lockhart, University of California, Los Angeles, author of The Nahuas after the Conquest, "The definitive work for decades to come on this important topic, and a model of innovative research crossing traditional disciplinary and methodological boundaries. It unites the pre- and postconquest periods, imperial core and regional settings, pictorial and textual sources, and language and visual image." --Rebecca Horn, University of Utah, author of Postconquest Coyoacan, "Olko has asked a large question, bringing to the forefront issues of status, prestige, and, probably, pedigree. The depth of her knowledge of early Nahua accoutrements and prerogatives across a broad spectrum of peoples is exceptional...Olko has written an erudite, meaningful work to ensure that the argot of the Nahua visual canon is carried forward." --Susan Schroeder, Journal of Anthropological Research, "The definitive work for decades to come on this important topic, and a model of innovative research crossing traditional disciplinary and methodological boundaries. It unites the pre- and postconquest periods, imperial core and regional settings, pictorial and textual sources, and language and visual image." -Rebecca Horn, University of Utah, author of Postconquest Coyoacan, "This is an important contribution to pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican studies. Staying remarkably focused throughout the book, the author thoroughly describes and insightfully interprets the insignia of rank of the Nahua (Aztec) peoples both before and after the Spanish conquest, placing these insignia in broad contexts. A crucial feature of the book is its use of an extraordinary variety of sources, revealing new patterns and variations (especially regional) in the use of status-related insignia and showing their persistence after the Spanish conquest. Beyond its interpretive value, this book is also a particularly useful reference work for related disciplines." --Frances Berdan, California State University, San Bernardino, author of The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society and coeditor of The Codex Mendoza, "[T]he definitive work on dress, jewelry, and all other accompanying symbols of rank in the late pre-Hispanic and early colonial Nahua eras. . . . Analyzing an exhaustive array of sources that moves beyond those used by earlier scholars working on themes of Nahua clothing and accoutrements of rank . . . Olko uses textual, pictorial, and material evidence, with a heavy emphasis on Nahuatl-language codices from all over the region studied, some of these being relatively unknown. Her assembling and analyzing of such a vast array of sources is impressive. . . . [Olko's book] will serve as the standard work on items and imagery of rank and nobility for decades to come, and both the author and the University Press of Colorado deserve plaudits for its publication." --Susan Kellogg, Hispanic American Historical Review, "A unique, significant monument. The research is simply stupendous. An exceptional work." -James Lockhart, University of California, Los Angeles, author of The Nahuas after the Conquest, "The definitive work for decades to come on this important topic, and a model of innovative research crossing traditional disciplinary and methodological boundaries. It unites the pre- and postconquest periods, imperial core and regional settings, pictorial and textual sources, and language and visual image." -Rebecca Horn, University of Utah, author of Postconquest Coyoacan, "[Olko's book] will serve as the standard work on items and imagery of rank and nobility for decades to come, and both the author and the University Press of Colorado deserve plaudits for its publication." --Susan Kellogg, Hispanic American Historical Review, "[Olko's book] will serve as the standard work on items and imagery of rank and nobility for decades to come, and both the author and the University Press of Colorado deserve plaudits for its publication." --Susan Kellogg, Hispanic American Historical Review, "This is an important contribution to pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican studies. Staying remarkably focused throughout the book, the author thoroughly describes and insightfully interprets the insignia of rank of the Nahua (Aztec) peoples both before and after the Spanish conquest, placing these insignia in broad contexts. A crucial feature of the book is its use of an extraordinary variety of sources, revealing new patterns and variations (especially regional) in the use of status-related insignia and showing their persistence after the Spanish conquest. Beyond its interpretive value, this book is also a particularly useful reference work for related disciplines." --Frances Berdan, California State University, San Bernardino, author of The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society and coeditor of The Codex Mendoza, "Justyna Olko provides nothing less than a rigorous and exhaustive analysis of every component of dress, jewellery, and other ornamentation worn by adorning indigenous men and women, be they native rulers ('tlatoque'), members of the nobility ('principales'), bureaucratic functionaries, or soldiers. This level of detail enables her to assign a cultural reference point for numerous figures -- a reference point that includes indicators such as rank and social status and the specific identity of local aristocracies, or, in the cases of a dual identity, the one that is intended to stand out at a certain time or to grace a particular occasion. These aspects of native culture, as drawn out by Olko, have often been ignored or overlooked, precisely because the field has lacked a comprehensive study such as hers to consult . . . [W]ith this book, Justyna Olko has become an unqualified master of the tlacuilolli." -- María Castañeda de la Paz