From Publishers Weekly

Two Maya archeologists base this tale of war, expansion and ritual on recently deciphered Mayan hieroglyphics and artifacts. According to PW , the authors "vividly conjure the Maya world of cyclical time and multiple levels of reality, a universe where all things are alive with meaning." Illustrated.

Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The mystique of the pre-Columbian Maya has prompted much speculation about the nature of this sophisticated people. With the recent breaking of their elaborate hieroglyphic code, Schele and Freidel, Mayan scholars of note, provide a new look at the Maya. Structured on sound scholarly principles, their presentation abounds in notes, references, indexes, and chronologies with profuse line-drawings of temple and other inscriptions. They devote a chapter to each of the major Mayan city-states. What makes this volume more accessible and of greater impact than the average scholarly study are the frequent vignettes of great events, kingly acts, etc., told dramatically, in a fictive but plausible style that allows the ancient Maya at last to speak for themselves. Recommended for informed laypersons, as well as specialist and YA readers. See also William Ferguson and others' Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities, reviewed in this issue, p. 122.--Ed.

- Jo-Ann D. Suleiman, Sanad Support Technologies, Rock ville, Md.

Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.