From the time of the earliest cave paintings, artists have been compelled to create likenesses of snakes. Authors Marilyn Nissenson and Susan Jonas have collected the best of those likenesses in Snake Charm, an elegant, absorbing compendium of snake iconography and lore throughout recorded history.

In text and images, the authors explore the paradox of the snake, a creature that inspires as much fascination as fear. The themes are grand: good and evil, seduction and betrayal, death and rebirth. The 157 illustrations - 138 of them in color - are magnificent: Minoan goddesses and medieval dragons, Rococo silver and Lalique pendants, nineteenth-century American pottery and contemporary Mexican folk sculpture, scientific drawings and Australian aboriginal "dream" paintings, and much more.

The result is a lively and informative book on a provocative subject. A selected bibliography and index round out this compelling volume, which will startle, astound, intrigue, and entice people to confront their ideas about a creature they thought (or hoped) they could ignore.