Product Description
When Mayan leaders protested the celebration of the Quincentenary of the "discovery" of America and joined with other indigenous groups in the Americas to proclaim an alternate celebration of 500 years of resistance, they rose to national prominence in Guatemala. This was possible in part because of the cultural, political, economic, and religious revitalization that occurred in Mayan communities in the later half of the twentieth century. Another result of the revitalization was Mayan students' enrollment in graduate programs in order to reclaim the intellectual history of the brilliant Mayan past. Victor Montejo was one of those students. This is the first book to be published outside of Guatemala where a Mayan writer other than Rigoberta Menchu discusses the history and problems of the country. It collects essays Montejo has written over the past ten years that address three critical issues facing Mayan peoples today: identity, representation, and Mayan leadership. Montejo is deeply invested in furthering the discussion of the effectiveness of Mayan leadership because he believes that self-evaluation is necessary for the movement to advance. He also criticizes the racist treatment that Mayans experience, and advocates for the construction of a more pluralistic Guatemala that recognizes cultural diversity and abandons assimilation. This volume maps a new political alternative for the future of the movement that promotes inter-ethnic collaboration alongside a reverence for Mayan culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Maya Identity
I give this book, two thumbs up.I never knew much about modern Maya identity until now. I still don't know everything, but I as a Chican@ I felt that I could relate to the issues and topics that are written about in this book.I was personally touched by the personal stories of the Maya who still fight to preserve their identities and culture on their native land by their conquerors. ... Read more

Product Description
"Allen J. Christenson offers us in this wonderful book a testimony to contemporary Maya artistic creativity in the shadow of civil war, natural disaster, and rampant modernization. Trained in art history and thoroughly acquainted with the historical and modern ethnography of the Maya area, Christenson chronicles in this beautifully illustrated work the reconstruction of the central altarpiece of the Maya Church of Tz'utujil-speaking Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. The much-loved colonial-era shrine collapsed after a series of destructive earthquakes in the twentieth century. Christenson's close friendship with the Chávez brothers, the native Maya artists who reconstructed the shrine in close consultation with village elders, enables him to provide detailed exegesis of how this complex work of art translates into material form the theology and cosmology of the traditional Tz'utujil Maya. With the author's guidance, we are taught to see this remarkable work of art as the Maya Christian cosmogram that it is. Although it has the triptych form of a conventional Catholic altarpiece, its iconography reveals a profoundly Maya narrative, replete with sacred mountains and life-giving caves, with the whole articulated by a central axis mundi motif in the form of a sacred tree or maize plant (ambiguity intended) that is reminiscent of well-known ancient Maya ideas. Through Christenson's focused analysis of the iconography of this shrine, we are able to see and understand almost firsthand how the modern Maya people of Santiago Atitlán have remembered the imagined universe of their ancestors and placed upon this sacred framework their received truths in time present."--Gary H. Gossen, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Latin American Studies, University at Albany, SUNY ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An essential contribution to the Mayanist literature
Although Christenson's book is a study of Maya religion in a contemporary community, his insights are crucial for understanding the pre-Hispanic past as well. I don't believe any other book gets this close to understanding Maya views of time and the animate universe.This book must be read by every Mayanist, professional and amateur alike. ... Read more

Product Description
Records of revolts, rebellions, and revolution provide insight into the nature of the Maya in the colonial period. In this book, Robert Patch presents five case studies - four in Guatemala and one in Yucatan, Mexico - of eighteenth-century Maya acts of violent resistance to Spanish colonialism. In the process, he reveals a great deal about indigenous culture, social structure, politics, economics, lineage, and gender. The author carefully analyzes the causes of, participation in, and resolution of each uprising, explaining the different political, economic, and cultural catalysts and the scope and outcome of each conflict. Through such detailed narratives, the reader not only learns about the reality of colonialism, but also is presented with the flesh-and-blood, real-life individuals and groups who resisted, counter-acted, circumvented, and defied the Spaniards. These stories reveal the drama, tragedy, and even comedy of the history of ordinary people and everyday life at the time. ... Read more

Product Description
Rigoberta Menchú is a living legend, a young woman who said that her odyssey from a Mayan Indian village to revolutionary exile was "the story of all poor Guatemalans." Her testimony, I, Rigoberta Menchú, denounced atrocities by theGuatemalan army and propelled her to the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize. But her story was not the eyewitness account that she claimed. In this hotly debated book, key points of which have been corroborated by the New York Times, David Stoll compares a cult text with local testimony from Rigoberta Menchú's hometown. His reconstruction of her story goes to the heart of debates over political correctness and identity politics and provides a dramatic illustration of the rebirth of the sacred in the postmodern academy.

The expanded edition of this internationally controversial book includes a new foreword from Elisabeth Burgos, the editor of I, Rigoberta Menchú, as well as a new afterword from Stoll, who clarifies his original position and addresses the many controversies and debates that have arisen since the book was first published.Amazon.com Review
In 1992, a Guatemalan peasant named Rigoberta Menchú receivedthe Nobel Peace Prize for her work in pressing the civil rights claimsof her country's indigenous peoples. A decade earlier, her memoir,I, RigobertaMenchú, had appeared, and it was immediately welcomed in thenascent canon of multicultural literary and anthropological writingsthat has since become standard in the academy.In that memoir, Menchúgives a highly specific account of the then-ruling militarygovernment's war against tribal, rural people, making claims that sheheld a leadership role in the resistance, the Guerrilla Army of thePoor. In a work certain to incite controversy, Middlebury Collegeanthropologist David Stoll questions the veracity of those claims,interviewing many of the people who appeared in her memoir andoffering contrary testimony.

"In a peasant society ruled by elders, where girls reaching pubertyare kept under close watch, it would be very unusual for a person ofher age and gender to play the leadership role she describes," Stollwrites. Neither, he argues, was she monolingual and illiterate, as sheclaimed to be; her presentation of self as "noble savage," hecontinues, gave her an unwarranted moral authority when she presentedstories that she had heard from others as if she had been aparticipant. His findings, Stoll notes, do not discount the realviolence visited by the Guatemalan government on its subjects,although they certainly might give comfort to apologists of theregime. (Interestingly, he notes, Menchú has since disavowed portionsof her memoir as the work of the French anthropologist who recordedthem.) --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great Provocation To Ensure Debate Lasts Forever
Im doin studies on the Guatemalan Genocide and of course this text has come up. At first i was a little reluctant to read it due to the fact he was openly opposing Menchu, someone whose piece i enjoyed and respected.

But i must say that it offers the field something which will last infinitely. Some support Stoll, some hate him and others sit on the fence. My position is somewhere in the middle. I dislike him for being critical of Menchu, in my understanding it is like swearing at your grandmother, a little taboo.

I thought his thorough research was maybe a little overdone, but probably necessary for the type of counter claims he was presenting.
This book will ensure uncertainty over this topic for decades to come but it is useful in the overall studies of the Guatemalan Genocide.

Author misses his own point
After 10 years of research, Stoll has shown that Menchu's book is an imperfect biography. How shocking! She went to sixth grade! She didn't witness her mother being tortured and murdered (although it did happen)!! There is no record of one of her brothers dying of malnutrition!!! For a time she participated in the unarmed political wing of the Guerrillas!!!!

As one who has spent several years living and working among Guatemalans who (barely) survived army massacres, tortures and disappearances, and who was in Guatemala when Stoll's book came out, I find these revelations to hardly be capital crimes.

Rigoberta's book was an attempt to bring international attention to the Guatemalan army's genocide campaign against the indigenous population. To that effect it was successful, although not nearly successful enough.

Is Menchu's book a perfect account of her life? Apparently not. Is it an accurate portrayal of what happened to millions of other indigenous Guatemalans? The UN-sponsored Truth Commission, and the Catholic Church's REMHI report have definatively answered in the affirmative.

In the end, you could say that Rigoberta's book is more accurately the story of "all poor Guatemalans" than it is her own.What Stoll sees as a fault is really one of the book's main virtues.

There are many stories that urgently need to be told about Guatemala. That Stoll would choose to spend his professional career attacking someone who has tirelessly fought for the human and cultural rights of Guatemala's indigenous people is the real mystery here. Instead of focusing on Rigoberta Menchu, a marginal, if noble, figure in Guatemala's sad history, why not undo the country's more dangerous mythic figure, Efrain Rios Montt (killed tens of thousands during his 16 month reign of terror, and now currently runs Guatemala's Congress and ruling party).

How many as-told-to autobiographies would stand up to 10 years of background checking? Personally, I'm waiting for Stoll's account of his own life story...

Witchhunt: a nasty man in an ivory tower
Stoll doggedly and biasly challenges Mechu's authenticity.By focusing on discrepancies within her testimony as told to Elisabeth Burgos-DeBray and drawing minimal attention to Menchu's actual and substantial political work on the behalf of indigenous people world wide, he paints the picture of an alternately manipulative and naïve puppet of the left.Furthermore, he suggests teachers who use Menchu in the classroom have bought into a romantic myth about virtuous Latin American rebels.

Stoll's argument is three-fold: Firstly, he balks at the
Postmodern notion that view "truth" is subjective, and, through a laundry list of discrepancies, aims at exposing Menchu's truths as false. Secondly, he frets that teachers present I, Rigoberta Menchu, an Indian Woman in Guatemala as a stable, simplistic, and de-contextualized account of the massacres of Guatemalan indigenous persons. Most significantly, Stoll argues that in fetishizing Menchu we not supporting the cause of "all poor Guatemalans," as Menchu suggests in the opening lines of her testimonio, but the cause of Marxist-indoctrinated guerillas.Stoll even goes so far as to assert that the testimony of the Nobel Peace Prizewinner may have extended the violence in the Guatemalan highlands, prolonging "an unpopular war" (p.278).

Like Dinesh d'Souza's extreme right-wing book Illiberal Education, Stoll's poses a critique of the academic left.Unlike d'Souza's rant, Stoll's book is in turn a fascinating, but infuriating read, but ultimately mean-spirited, academically disingenuous and far from "objective."

For example, when Stoll points to debatable discrepancies within the testimony, he offers other voices and political contexts.He interviews people from Menchu's village El Chimel; he interviews I Rigoberta Menchu editor Elisabeth Burgos-Debray and the ambassador who survived the army-induced embassy fire in which Menchu's father ---who along with protesters had taken the ambassador hostage---dies.A chapter is devoted to fragmented interviews with women who allegedly attended a convent school with Menchu.Stollrelishs each detail that invalidates Menchu's claim that, like many other Mayan children, she did not attend formal school and only learned Spanish as she became an activist.

In many respects, Stoll's fieldwork seems exhaustive.It starts to pay off when Stoll deviates from his from his attack on Menchu's authenticity to historicize Guatemalan politics and trace the alliances of peasant and indigenous organizations.However, these discussions tend to break down as condemnations --- and conflations --- of Menchu and Marxism.Stoll's motives appear particularly ominous when it is revealed that, despite ten years of work in Guatemala, he listens to a mere two-and-a-half-hours of the eighteen hours of recorded testimony Rigoberta Menchu gives Elisabeth Burgos-Debray.And Stoll was right there in Burgos-Debray's apartment.

Many years have passed since the week in 1982 when Menchu, a political refugee, gave oral testimony to the Argentine anthropologist.Until recently, that week long meeting represented most of what the public gleaned about Rigoberta Menchu.Since the testimony concludes at the point of exile, it does not reveal Menchu's constant lobbying for indigenous rights and Guatemalan peace treaties at the UN, prior to winning the Nobel Peaceprize.It is fortunate that months before the Stoll hatchet job, Menchu's own account of her political work, including life after the Peaceprize, and episodes that were obscured in the first work, was published.Stoll's self-serving book should only be read along with its source material and her second book. Considered together, the three books fashion an intriguing matrix of truth-making, of interpretations and re-interpretations that shift based on political circumstance and personal positioning.

Still, my fundamental feeling is that Stoll was out to frame Menchu at any cost.It saddens me to see so many people jumping on his bandwagon, serving the purpose of further empowering the wealthy and privileged, and casting doubt on one of the rare voices of Central American indigenous people to reach us.Her story of oppression, resistence and survival is more important than any minor discrepencies Stoll so relishes. Stoll's book is pure careerism and is nasty to the core.Menchu's meaningful life work speaks louder. It inspires while Stoll's knarled intentions digust.

The Myth of Menchu
My wife is Guatemalan, so I have a special interest in the case of R. Menchu.

Long before this book appeared I found it odd that I couldn't find a single Guatemalan who believed the popularized story of Menchu. I had doubts myself since the historic highway of leftism is paved with the remains of frauds and tyrants.

This book lays my doubts to rest. Menchu is a fraud. She has been used by the Left to bash the U.S., and she used them and a gullible international media to become a star. Menchu is to the misty eyed utopian dreamers what Fabio is to lonely, yearning readers of romance novels, or what Miss February is to adolescent men. Rigoberta is the socialist pin-up girl.

But the fantasy of the left always turns violent and ugly. In the Guatemalan case the author also demonstrates that the indians were used as pawns to further the objectives of the Left and their guerilla surrogates. The Left pushed the mostly uninterested indians into the face of the repressive right-wing government while shouting, "they say you are fascists murderers." Wedged between the bloodthirsty Left and Right, the indians got slaughtered.

Menchu, like Lenin, Castro, Foucault, and so many before her, is a symbol of the moral corruption of the Left. People drawn to utopian reformism are also ideal candidates for the cult of personality. Menchu became (and still is) a useful invention of those who build castles in sand saturated with the blood of innocents.

One thing is certain, this book will cause no general reassessment by the Left. Few leftists will ask themselves, "How did I get taken in by the myth of Menchu?" The Left merely steps over the bodies and havoc it precipitates, moving on to the next big religious crusade. After all, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, can you? The thousands of innocent Guatemalan eggs cracked in the leftist guerilla warmerely join the millions of others around the world. Yet very few leftists have found that mass murders associated with their beliefs are reason to rethink. Even one prior reviewer of this book reduces his rating because one of the rare leftists who rethought his views has given support to the conclusions of David Stoll.

Several thousand people were sadly murdered during the Pinochet regime in Chile, and the Left pursues this relentlessly. Millions were killed in the name of socialism in the USSR and China, and the countries they subjugated, yet the Left demands no trials, no accountability. Why?

Have you ever heard one leftist suggest that Castro should be tried for torturing, murdering, and filling his prisons with dissidents, homosexuals, etc.? Castro is merely making socialist omelets, thus he remains a hero.

The reaction to this book by the Left has mostly been to repudiate it as rightist disinformation (despite the fact that the author is on the Left), or to ignore it. Menchu remains a useful myth for those who detest the U.S. and still harbor utopian dreams that require more broken eggs.

If your teacher makes you read "I, Rigoberta," read this book as well and ask some hard questions. You will be branded a racist, anti-third world, anti-multicultural, reactionary, but you will at least know the truth and it will set you free . . . especially when you flunk the course!

An iconoclast makes important points.
David Stoll's book makes important points.To what extent can the testimony of a single person represent the situation faced by a larger community?What happens when a single figure comes to embody a movement, and that figure has conveyed misrepresentations of the truth?
Stoll does not claim that many poor Guatemalans did not face unbearable oppression, or that they were not massacred by para-military death squads.However, he does note that, like 1980s and early 1990s Peru, the indigenous sometimes felt trapped.He suggests that both the military and leftist guerrillas would use murder as a means to coerce the indigenous into subordination.
Although Stoll pats himself on the back for having waited until Guatemala's lengthy civil war ended, one must question whether his timing was appropriate.His book provided ammunition for the military government to negate claims of torture and disappearances at a time when United Nations Truth Commissions were investigating military abuses.
The issues brought up by Stoll are important, but could be addressed in a less slanderous manner.As Victor Montejo points out, the picture of Rigoberta Menchu on the cover is inappropriate.If Stoll is in fact claiming not to be an iconoclast, why is the photograph on the cover?Why is Rigoberta's name in the title?
Let there be no doubt that Rigoberta did have a political agenda.However, if there are several exaggerations, the story should not be discredited.Consider the genre: testimony.Rigoberta was interviewed for hours a day, for about a week (I believe).Rigoberta did not edit the text.Also, we do not know what questions were asked, and how they influenced Rigoberta's responses.We do know that Burgos-Debray has marxist connections.An interviewer can have a profound effect upon the interviewee, in this case a young twenty-three year-old. ... Read more

Product Description
Patronized by royalty between the sixth and eighth centuries, the monuments of Guatemala's ancient Maya city of Piedras Negras were carved by sculptors with remarkable skills and virtuosity. Together patrons and sculptors created monumental imagery in a manner unique within the larger history of ancient Maya art by engaging public viewers through illustrations of ceremonies focusing on family and the feminine in royal agendas.

Flora Clancy's introduction contextualizes her work with other studies and lays out her methodological framework. She then discusses the known monuments of the city sequentially by reigns. Individual rulers are characterized by a biography drawn from the hieroglyphic texts and the icons or imagery of their monuments are analyzed and discussed.

Although the monuments of Piedras Negras are acknowledged as social, political, and cultural productions, Clancy also treats them as works of art that at their best operate on transcendent levels dissolving and overruling the contingencies of history and cultural differences. ... Read more

Product Description
A richly illustrated introduction to the civilisation of the Maya people, the longest lived and most widely spread of all the great cultures of pre-Colombian America. Showcases the art of the Maya in all its glory.Amazon.com Review
The 1990s have been a period of explosive growth in ourknowledge of the ancient Maya people of Central America; as the regiongrows in population and forests are cleared for fields and towns, moreand more Mayan ruins are being found. Timothy Laughton, an English arthistorian, draws on recent fieldwork to give us this richlyillustrated, inviting introduction to Mayan prehistory, which isespecially strong on what is reliably known about the culture'sbeliefs and religious practices. Organized as a series of brief essayson matters like trade, astronomy, timekeeping, and architecture,Laughton's book examines some long-standing curiosities: Why, forinstance, did the Maya people, as politically and militarily wellorganized as they were, never forge a single empire to rival that ofthe neighboring Aztecs? Why did the so-called classic Mayacivilization collapse when there is no discernible reason for itshaving done so--no invaders, no plague, no famine? Laughton hazards afew guesses, but he is mostly content to let mysteries remain wherethe facts do not immediately offer an explanation. Geared to generalreaders, his book will also be useful to beginning students inMesoamerican archaeology and cultural history.--GregoryMcNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A beautiful pictorial overview of the Mayan culture
Through gorgeous photographs of ruins, murals, figurines, pottery, and other artifacts, Laughton guides the reader through an introduction to the complexities of Mayan society. He touches upon topics as varied as sacrifice, glyphs, sports, and the significance of the jaguar. But this book's strength is not the concise text. THE MAYA is primarily a visual look at the Mayan culture - and here it excels.

At 135 pages, this is not an exhaustive book but rather a brief overview.Readers wanting an in-depth exploration of the culture should look elsewhere.Those who simply have a curiosity about the Mayas, or who love the visual impact of antiquities, will enjoy this book immensely.

Great introductory book on Maya
The book provides an excellent overview of Maya civilization.It is relatively short and keeps all the information to the minimum, so you can grasp all the facts in short time and not start losing your mind.Thereare plenty of good quality colour pictures of ancient Maya sites to keepyou awake.Would highly recommend this book to somebody who just starteddeveloping his interest in Maya civilisation - you won't be disappointed ... Read more

Product Description
The ancient Mayan civilization of southern Mexico and northern Central America has long been described as "mysterious," even though scholars have been studying this culture for hundreds of years. Our view of the Maya has changed dramatically based on the various findings of these scholars; what were once thought of as "vacant ceremonial centers," inhabited by only a few calendar priests and used as places of ritual by the surrounding peasant farmers, have now been redefined as ancient thriving cities of thousands of Maya. Hierogliphic inscriptions, once thought to be astrological mumbo-jumbo, now read as names of historical individuals and the cities they ruled. The Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World provides a comprehensive and accessible reference to the greatest and most mysterious of civilizations, hailed for its contributions to science, mathematics, and technology. The book focuses on recent groundbreaking discoveries while presenting the civilization's earlist beginnings to its conquest by the Spanish in the 16th Century. Each chapter is supplemented by an extensive bibliography as well as photographs. original line drawings, and maps. Different sections include civilization and archaeology, evolution, geography, society and government, astronomy and the calendar, funerary beliefs and customs, and many more, ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World
Whether you are a novice or expert on the subject, the author has captured the essence of Maya culture in this work.This book is a compilation by several experts of different Maya subjects i.e. architecture, agriculture, hieroglyphics etc.It would qualify as the textbook for a course on the Maya.Not only is the book easy reading but it is stocked full of facts that everystudent of the Maya should know. ... Read more

Product Description
This up-to-date account of the art and architecture of ancient Mesoamerica evocatively summarizes the artistic achievements of the high pre-Columbian civilizations--Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Aztec--as well as of their less-famous contemporaries. 190 illustrations, 20 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

ready for the trashcan
This book is in terrible condition.It does not rate any star or even partial star.

IT REEKS OF TOBACCO!

And there was something sticky spilled all over the back cover which disgusted me to touch. I had to immediately wash it with alcohol hand cleaner to be able to open it.It is dog eared and has large amounts of underlining, some in pen and some in yellow marker.I don't want it in my house!I don't think I can stand having it in my hands to read it.

The invoice included with it is for another book [Torts (Law in a Flash Cards) by Emanuel, Steven L] and for another buyer, Elizabeth Zager in Holly Springs NC.I suppose the person purchasing this item now has my name and address.I don't like this.

Somebody really goofed up here and I AM NOT HAPPY.

This book in NO WAY qualifies as GENTLY USED.It is a mess.

I have been taken.I want my money back.

Sincerely,
Celeste Turcotte

Waste of time
The content of this book is so dry I'm amazed it didn't light up in my hands.Unless you already have an intimate knowledge of the subject this book does little to educate you.It presents few facts, only one "likely" scenario after another.In fact I count 46 "likely" scenarios in the first three chapters alone.I am "likely" to burn this book after the class that requires it is over.If you are taking a class that requires this book, drop it. Unless you are a pretentious art history major that would love to debate the finer points of the late formative style of Maya artistry, stay away from this book.

Successfull challenge
This book has deeply increased my motivation for learning more of the complex precolombian culture, and to visit again the Museo Nacional Antropologica, Mexico. I would recommend to read first David Carrasco " Religions of Mesoamerica ".

This is very Interesting
Excelent book, great author and great information.
Olmecs,Maya and Aztecs are studing by Mary Eller.

Worthwhile but dense
A solid, useful one-volume survey of Mesoamerican art.Miller is a notedexpert in the field, and she does a commendable job of presenting a largeamount of information in a short space without resorting to superficiality. The text is clear and the photographs are both copious and well-chosen,with numerous color plates adding to the enjoyment.

Almost of necessity,however, the writing style tends to be fairly dense.Those looking for areadable "History of Mesoamerica" should probably go elsewhere. Nonetheless, most readers will find this book rewarding -- after which theywill want to turn to more specific and detailed volumes by Linda Schele andMichael Coe, among others. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Just great
Fiery Pool is a great book and worth the price. It adds to my collection of Maya books. This has beautiful pictures and many authors and all the work. Each contributor adds much knowledge.

Fiery Pool:The Maya and the Mythic Sea
Aside from the brilliant-colored images, and there are many, the text is informative and inciteful.It is a book that teaches and entertains as well.

Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea (Peabody Essex Museum)
As noted by previous reviewers, many of the images in this catalog of the show currently at the Peabody Essex Museum have never been seen before.Indeed, some of the pieces in the show have never been out of the curatorial shelves of the various institutions to which they have been entrusted.Thus it is indeed a treat to see the images and read the short but concise descriptions.

The show and this catalog also deal with a previously, and still, little touched upon aspect of Maya culture and art.The role of the sea and water in the Maya mythos and cosmos.

You cannot view the images and read the material and not be struck by the similarity of some of the works, and by the similarity to the beliefs (or what we think we know of the beliefs) of the Mississippian culture.But, that of course is beyond the aim and exploration of this exhibition and catalog.For those who are interested in the Maya, it would be a mistake not to take a look at this book.

Fiery Pool
Excellent photographs. Small but well argumented texts for each one of the 99 archaeological Maya items organized for the exhibition of the same name. Many objects are now seen with detail for the first time, a valuable resource for ancient Maya researchers. The exhibition will visit Salem, Mass.; and Fort Worth, TX in 2010; and the Saint Louis Art Museum during 2011. But you can admire many times the exhibition trapped by this publication.

Extensive, visually intense, stimulating...
I read about this exhibit in the periodical AMERICAS and ordered the book.As an exhibit overview, this book is among the top of its class.Not all exhibit books work, but this one does.I own many books about the Maya and these images are new. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is one of the most important surviving works of pre-Columbian civilization, Rabinal Achi, a Mayan drama set a century before the arrival of the Spanish, produced by the translator of the best selling Popol Vuh. The first direct translation into English from Quiche Maya, based on the original text, Rabinal Achi is the story of city-states, war, and nobility, of diplomacy, mysticism, and psychic journeys. Cawek of the Forest People has been captured by Man of Rabinal, who serves a ruler named Lord Five Thunder. Cawek is a renegade, a warrior who has inflicted much suffering on Rabinal. Yet he is also the son of the lord of the allied city of Quiche--a noble who once fought alongside Man of Rabinal. The drama presents the confrontation between the two during the trial of Cawek, who defies his captors and proudly accepts death by beheading. Dennis Tedlock's translation is clear and vivid; more than that, it is rooted in an understanding of how the play is actually performed. Despite being banned for centuries by Spanish authorities, it survived in actual practice, and is still performed in the town of Rabinal today. Tedlock's photographs and diagrams accompany the text, capturing nuances not apparent in the dialogue alone. He also provides an introduction and commentary that explain the historical events compressed into the play, the Spanish influence on the Mayan dramatic tradition, and the cultural and religious world preserved in this remarkable play. Rabinal Achi ranks as a classic of Mayan literature--and a rare window on a world that had yet to be invaded by Europeans. Dennis Tedlock brings this drama to life in all its richness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Cultural Treasure
This book is the follow up to the Popol Vuh (the Mayan Bible) by bestselling translator and author Dennis Tedlock. This is a beautiful and careful translation of a wonderful Mayan text which like his Popol Vuh will surely win translation prizes.

Tedlock spent many years studying the language, culture, and shamanic traditions of the highland Maya in Guatemala. Together with his wife he underwent a shamanic apprenticeship and later videotaped several performances of this dance drama. This is the only remaining pre-Columbian Mayan play in existence and as such it is a cultural treasure which this transaltor has treated with great respect. The dozens of photographs and line art bring the book alive! ... Read more