Uncovering the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya: A Forest of Kings

Tony Rowlands: This is wonderful . The understanding of Maya cultural and religious practice has advanced so much and there is much revealed in this wonderful book .
I enjoyed every minute of my reading , couldn't put it down .
I do hope it's followed up in a few years with new discoveries about this extraordinary civilization .

Australia on Oct 23, 2020

Steve Hammond: This book was published in 1993, as you might imagine some key arguments in this book are now very dated. If you are totally new to the Maya then this book will be quite a misleading read and you'd be better off reading "The Maya" by Stephen Houston and Micheal Coe even though it is a lot more dry to read.

Positives and Negatives:

The problem is, there is still lots to learn from this book, especially on the theme of Maya religion and the role of the Divine kings. The book follows the monuments left by select Ahauob (kings) of Maya city states including Palenque, Tikal and Copan. The descriptions of the monuments are extremely detailed which for the most part is very interesting though it can border on the pedantic at times. Now and then there are narratives written as though from a Maya person's perspective which are fun and interesting reads though felt highly speculative at times.

That is the main problem with this book, its age and also the bias of its authors, its hard to know what is still relevant and what is now discounted and biased. Traditionally "Mayanists" have been very against the idea of foreign entities invading or even influencing Maya...

United Kingdom on Jan 07, 2019

D. Njoku: Rather interesting history that added to my knowledge.

United Kingdom on Aug 22, 2015

L. Montague: Well written

Canada on Jun 01, 2015

Robin Johnson: Great

United Kingdom on Dec 15, 2014

Summers: 10 chapters
Approximately 40 rulers in dynasty timelines (12 rulers in each of 4 lists)
Main cities of the Yucatan Peninsula and south to Guatemala

Including Tikal, Naranja, and Carachol with list on pg 168
Palenque dynasty on 219
Copan 311
Chichen Itza 362 Rule of brothers

1st Chapter Geography
2nd Chapter Calendar count
3rd Chapter Temple Architecture
4th Chapter Expanding empire Tikal against Uaxactun 700AD
5th Chapter Carachol
6th Chapter Mythology First beginnings Palenque 3000BC
7th Chapter Contested succession Yaxchilan
8th Chapter End of Copan
9th Chapter Chichen Itza foreign influence from Mexico and Spain
10th Chapter Last stelae (stone inscriptions) in many cities 900AD

First stelae dates to 50BC.

Only a few color photographs. Most pictures are small, detailed black and white outlines.
Glossary of gods and notes in the back. (pg 400-500)
Main gods are mother, father tree of life, first son water monster (crocodile?), second son smoking mirror with an ax through forehead and a serpent foot associated with witz monster (mountain) and maize, third son who is second born? jaguar sun is probably a...

United States on Jan 24, 2013

Cimarron: This book is now a little old, but I think still very useful. It helps give an idea of the daily life of the elites and ordinary citizens during the preclassic and classic periods of the Mayan temple building era. It helps explain the purpose, meaning and role of the baroque imagery the Mayans used in their bas relief sculptures in their temples, tieing it in with the religious imagery expressed in the key book available to us the Popul Vuh. It is a great tool for someone who wishes to begin to understand the otherwise overwhelmingly complex Mayan spiritual life and style of artistic expression. The two are inextricably linked. They examine specific sites where the authors have worked, and help understand the concepts the builders had in constructing these sites. This is immensely helpful. Sometimes I feel a little nervous as they authors fill in gaps in the historical narrative on what appears to be shaky evidentiary ground. This is shortcoming that Nassim Taleb refers to as the narrative fallacy. It is an important problem and a mistake that we all commit. It will lead us astray. However, if you mentally mark those segments and discard their validity as unsubstantiated by the...

United States on Aug 27, 2010

Roger Carrier: Note: It looks like I have offended some Mormons who don't want you to read this book. Nevertheless, science won't go away. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated

Schele and Freidel's book takes you into the mind of the ancient Maya, where bloodletting induced visions that opened doors into the world of pagan spirits and everyone had an animal "familiar."

The description of the "War of Conquest" of Tikal (tee-kal) against Uaactun (wa-shak-toon) is riviting. It is fascinating that we know the name of the general of Tikal, "Smoking-Frog." At other places, we now also know the names of the Maya leaders. "Ah Zacol...governed Lacanja for Knot-eye-Jaguar, the king of Bonampak." Other names are equally strange. I won't list the name of one king because Amazon's filter's would reject my review. Anyway, his name was "p-n-s of the jaguar."

I came to my interest in the Maya from my early encounters with Mormon authors who used specious scholarship to connect the Maya to the religious novel called the "Book of Mormon." Now that Maya writing has been deciphyered, all those false claims have been exposed. In many cases, the truth was known, but Mormon writers were engaging in...

United States on May 26, 2008