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. McKinley presents the story of this precious dye and its ancient heritage.

Reviews

"[McKinley] introduces the reader to a wide cast of characters who slip in and out of the narrative unobtrusively."--"Kirkus Reviews

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"The sections in which [McKinley] focuses on the history of indigo are fascinating, and some of her vivid descriptions shimmer with an almost cinematic quality." --Ingrid Levin, "Library Journal"

"Call it blue gold, the devil's dye, or the cloth of history; indigo is the color that launched the ships and caravans of worldwide commerce. It encompasses the slave trade, the factories of European industry, and the woman-dominated markets of Africa. It binds the blue sails of Columbus's ships to denim jeans and the exquisite hand-woven fabrics collectors crave. Catherine McKinley follows her passion, her 'insatiable, desire' for this beauty and history to Africa. There she enters a complex world--ancient, post-modern, stable and volatile. It demands that she be student, adventurer, aesthete and journalist: she meets these demands with restless inte