Pastoureau... is eminently qualified to explore the stripe's peculiar historical trajectory...The Devil's Cloth gets to the heart of matters like the way we perceive color and pattern, and speculates interestingly on whether these perceptions derive from nature or nurture... this playful but learned book will doubtless have an influence.
Angeline Goreau The New York Times Book Review Reading about ... Read morethe epic implications of stripes... you feel like a child gleefully taking apart a toy, examining its small components one by one, then putting it back together. You've figured out how it works, how its parts relate to the whole. Only that toy is the entire history of the universe. What could be more empowering? New York Times (National edition) An oddball and charming little biography of a very devious pattern. Who knew that striped fabrics, now a kind of a shorthand for Class, were, from medieval times onward, so fraught with dangerous meaning? Esquire [An] intriguing little book. Library Journal The Devil's Cloth kept this reader at the edge of her seat. Seattle Times [A] unique little book. Forbes FYI Thinking of wearing that pinstriped suit for lunch with the boss? Or that fancy silk tie? Just be thankful that you didn't live a few hundred years ago, when a getup like that would not only have blown any chance for a raise but could very well have gotten you killed... It was this unlikely observation that prompted Mr. Pastoureau's book.
Emily Eakin The New York Times Show Less