Art and Craft of Southern Africa is a book of colour,history and change. The baskets , pottery, bead-work anddress so richly illustrated and describedare truly treasures, but treasues in transtition. While these 'Fourth World' arts remain vital to the indegenious cultures of southern Africa, the growing commercial  attraction that they have is affecting the means and materials of their manufacture.Can these traditional arts benefit from this renaissance ofWestern interest and withstand the pressures of acculturation; or are they dying and headed for extinction?In these pages, this question is for the first time explored in depth. What the future will bring remains to be seen.