BOOKSHELF

ROADSIDE HISTORY OF ARIZONA, by Marshall Trimble. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana. 1986. 480 pages. Available through Arizona Highways, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009; telephone (602) 258-1000. $15.95, softcover, postpaid.

If books were babies, Planned Parenthood would want to have a talk with the prolific Marshall Trimble. His numerous books and magazine articles are always rooted in the land he knows and loves, and he has viewed that storied land from many angles.

In this, his latest publication, he has divided the state into five geographical areas, according to the federal and state highways that connect the cities, towns, and villages. So, if you were driving Interstate Route 10 from the Arizona-California border at Ehrenberg to Phoenix, Trimble's book would give you the pertinent history along the way.

The book is well illustrated with pictures from the past and includes an Arizona chronology as well as an extensive bibliography and helpful index. With the Roadside History of Arizona in the family car, your trip may take a little longer, but it will be far more interesting.

THE ARTS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN: NATIVE TRADITIONS IN EVOLUTION, edited by Edwin L. Wade. Hudson Hills Press, Inc., 230 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1380, New York, New York, 10001. 1986. 324 pages. $50, hardcover, plus $2.50 postage.

Centuries before the first white foot tentatively touched the soil of North America, the natives of that vast wilderness had within their own societies gifted artisans who held lofty rank in their tribes. Because most of the products had a utilitarian or spiritual purpose, the individual artisan frequently was judged first on his or her technical expertise and only second on the esthetic appeal of the work. Eager to maintain tribal identity, artists and craftsmen were slow to adapt to change. And when change came, it was usually modest and subtle, tending still to reflect original method and design. For all this we can be grateful, for today that strong thread of ethnocentrism remains in various forms of Native American art. Even the amateur admiring Indian art can easily discern a stylistic Harrison Begay from the Rivera-like work of Patrick Desjarlait.

Editor Wade's superb new volume is certain to become a standard reference, for it provides in detailed text, sixty-seven colorplates, and 211 halftones the arts and crafts of more than sixty tribes. Its time span is 3000 years. Fourteen American, Canadian, and European authorities have provided the text. Each is a respected specialist. Their investigations and points of view range from anthropological, sociolog ical, and art-historical to humanist, giving the reader a full-circle sighting of the subject. The art reproduced also varies, ranging from traditional to avant-garde, from a stunning contemporary stone carving to an exquisite Delaware ladle carved from wood in the 1700s.