Maya Divine Kings of the rainforest

Köneman 2001. Inbunden med skyddsomslag, 480 sidor, 3,1 kg. Mycket gott/nära nyskick. Språk, engelska. The history and culture of the Mayans is brought to life with dramatic color photos in Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest. Edited by Nikolai Grube, a professor of anthropology and pre-Columbian studies at the University of Texas, Austin, this art book features a collection of accessible essays by scholars on all aspects of Mayan life: the rise of political dynasties; achievements in astronomy, mathematics and art; colonial era warfare; and present-day descendants. Whether describing how the Mayans made maize loafs, viewed the cosmos or used architecture to collect rainwater, the book offers a comprehensive overview of the ancient civilization. This review is from: The Mayas: Culture and Civilization (Cultural Studies Photography) (Hardcover)
This is the best book I have ever come across on Mayan culture. It is a oversized coffee table volume, some 450 deluxe pages, each of which is covered with maps, illustrations and many, many photographs. Each period in Mayan development is covered in the chapters and the illustrations correspond neatly with the text. The text also does not veer off into the author's own opinions as these books frequently do. The first evidence of humans in the Mayan planes date to around ten thousand b.c., the book starts there and continues to the current Mayans (yes, their descendents alive in the world today, and that, too, is an interesting look). For anyone who thinks that civilization began in the Mediterranean, this book is clear evidence that it began on the other side of the world at the same time, if not earlier. It's a shame that the price and the fact that this book is out of print makes it less accessible to readers. For Mayan historians, this book is a must, but even someone with only a casual interest in the subject would find much of interest here.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous Book on the Maya, January 4, 2007
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JLP (Schaumburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mayas: Culture and Civilization (Cultural Studies Photography) (Hardcover)
This is by far the best and most beautiful book on the Maya for the general reader that I have come across. I have traveled extensively throughout the Maya Area, and own several books on the subject, including classics such as "A Forest of Kings", "The Blood of Kings", Coe's "The Maya", and Henderson's "The World of the Ancient Maya". However, none of these volumes come close to Grube's massive, lavishly-illustrated tome in terms of spectacular photographs, wealth of topics, and breadth of scholarship.

Edited by N. Grube, a renowned Maya scholar, the book is a collection of articles by several experts on the Maya, each a specialist in some aspect of the civ