The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places)

Author - Michael D. Coe ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Thames & Hudson was reviewed on 3-Nov-2008.

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1) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. This offers more than a casual tourist might be interested in, but is a very readable and well-illustrated book with the most up to date information from archeologists and other scholars of the Maya.¤

2) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. I am very very pleased with this book; it was sent to me in a timely manner and it was delivered in excellent condition. thanks!¤

3) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. Its not a bad book for someone whos just starting to read about them. Good pictures and drawings, not a great book but good enough.¤

4) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. This is an excellent introduction to the Maya. It is well-written and flows nicely. Of particular use are the fine illustrations that accompany the text; as you read the text you are refermed by numbers in the margin to a suitable illustration. One of the strong points of this book is that the author criticizes other works and himself in view of the latest research on the topic. The book also has an excellent bibliography that refers the reader to both scholarly and popular works.
A final strong point of this work is that it is only one-half to one-third the length of other works; better a shorter book that you will read than a longer one that will rest upon a shelf!
My only criticism of this book is the final chapter. Like many academics Prof Coe hates American influence (tourists innundate ruins, evangelical christianity threatens the shamans, and the cattle ranches that produce meat for "American hamburgers") and Republicans (things improved for the Maya with a Democrat in the White House). Also, he accepts the lies in Rigoberta Menchu´s book as true.
Yet, overall this is a valuable book.¤

5) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. The ruins of the ancient Mayan city of El Mirador are deep in the jungles of northern Guatamala. Once one of the largest cities in North America with 80,000 people, El Mirador today is accessible only by helicopter or by long distance hiking. Before its mysterious abandonment in the third century AD, El Mirador boasted the Danta Pyramid, the largest structure of this type in the world. Michael Coe has written a facinating book about the world of the ancient Maya. His ability to make El Mirador and many similar sites come to life makes this book well worth the purchase price even if Yucatan and vicinity are not in one´s travel plans.

Professor Coe traces the rise of Mayan civilization from earliest times, to the splendor of the Late Classic Period when as many as ten million people lived in the lowlands, to the "Mayan Apocalypse"of the eighth century AD when the greatest cities of the New World were abandoned and returned to the jungle. Each of the major sites is described in detail with a complete description of artifacts and numerous photographs and maps. The author concludes with an extended discussion of Mayan thought and culture, and with his personal tribute to "The Enduring Maya". The Mayan population of southern Mexico and Central America has returned to over seven million people despite five hundred years of European diseases and economic oppression.

It is important that we not miss the practical implications of this book. The "Mayan Apocalpse" had ecological roots. The population had increased beyond the carrying capacity of the land, and there was massive deforestation and soil erosion. Years of severe drought followed. There is currently a debate about whether global warming is real, and if so whether it matters. One of the first great civilizations in the New World came to a disastrous end because of its inability or unwillingness to deal with environmental issues. We need to draw proper conclusions from the Mayan experience.
¤

6) Paperback Book The Maya, Seventh Edition (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Thames & Hudson. "A clear and intelligent description of the development and organization of Maya civilization." —Natural History

The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable introduction to the New World´s greatest ancient civilization. In these pages Professor Coe distills a lifetime´s scholarship for the general reader and student.

Since the publication of the sixth edition of The Maya, new sites have been uncovered and further excavations in old sites have proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Among the many new discoveries is the chance find of extraordinary murals dating to ca. AD 100 at San Bartolo in the Petén. New epigraphic, archaeological, and osteological research has thrown light on the identity of the "founding fathers" of such great sites as Tikal and Copan, and their close affiliation with Teotihuacan in central Mexico. The previously little known center of Ek´ Balam in northeastern Yucatan has turned out to be a regional kingdom of major importance, with extraordinary stucco reliefs and a plethora of painted inscriptions.

It has now become apparent that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preclassic period, above all in the Mirador Basin of northern Guatemala, where the builders of gigantic ancient cities (interconnected by causeways) erected the world´s largest pyramid as early as 200 BC. All of these finds suggest that we must rethink what we mean by "Classic."

The seventh edition also presents new evidence for the use of wetlands by the Classic Maya, and fresh perspectives on the catastrophic demise of Classic civilization by the close of the ninth century. 175 illustrations, 17 in color.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 1-Dec-2008, 05002850559780500285053, 840-350-6X0-550-540-500-480-790-8

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