The Maya and Colonial History of Guatemala | ||
Historia de los indios de la Nueva España | ||
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by Toribio de Motolinia
(Paperback - May 1998) This book is very worthwhile and not too difficult reading. (Review by David Unger) |
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Breve Historia Contemporánea | ||
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Luján Múñoz,
J. (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Primera Edición 1998) The book is easy to read for the advanced Spanish student. (Review by David Unger) |
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La Otra Historia | ||
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José Manuel Chacón
alias Filóchofo (2003, ISBN: 99922-2-161-5) Yes, this is something you can read even if you are a beginner in Spanish: A history of Guatemala illustrated with caricatures. Filóchofo used to do biting caricatures in a big Guatemalan newspaper until they fired him for being to far left from mainstream. His pen work is really art, and for this reason alone his book deserves to be bought. Although a bit biased, he counts the history of Guatemala in a refreshing way. Read the hilarious section on how Guatemala, starting out as Central America plus Chiapas, ended up being the small (but not insignificant) country it is now. My only grudge towards this book is the blindness in which the author judges Alvaro Arzú, in my eyes the best president of Guatemala of all times. If I think about the peace treaty and the hundreds of rural roads and schools created by Arzú, I can only say: Hey, people from Guatemala City, come out from your cheap offices and get to know your own country. (Review by David Unger) |
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Breaking the Maya Code | ||
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by Michael D. Coe (Paperback
- Oct 2000) It was the Russian scientist Knorosov who finally cracked the code. He had never seen Guatemala or Mexico. In World War II he got to fight in the red army in Berlin and witnessed a fire consuming the German National Library. He managed to save a book: A one-volume edition of the Maya codices of Dresden, Madrid and Paris. With this book and other sources he managed to prove that the Maya Glyphs represent a syllable code. In order to read the glyphs, scientists had to learn a Mayan language which is the nearest relative to ancient “Maya”: Yucateco. Reading this suspenseful story you also get primed on linguistic methods, like the fact that most writing systems can be characterized just from the number of signs as either alphabetic (20 – 35 signs) or syllabic (40 to 90 signs) or logographic (100+). The best scientific book I have read in years. (Review by David Unger) |
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Indian Clothing Before Cortés | ||
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by Patricia Rieff Anawalt
(Nov 1981) The book represents Rieff's doctoral thesis, it classifies and shows garments of six different geographical areas in a very scientific way, a bit dry to read, but with a wealth of attractive original drawings. On the way, Rieff explains interesting details like the one that Aztec armor was made mainly of cotton, but withstood arrows and axes and therefore was in part quickly adopted by the conquistadores who appreciated the armor’s lightness. The author also draws very interesting conclusions, one being that Cortés got to understand the significance of clothing in ritual Aztec warfare and used this to turn the tide of the most important battle. One of the favorite books in my library. (Review by David Unger) |
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The Maya, Seventh Edition | ||
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by Michael D Coe (Paperback
- Mar 30, 2005) (Review from Amazon.com) |
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Auf den Spuren der Maya | ||
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by Andreas Herrmann
Maler’s photographs revive what was most important about Mayan architecture: The facade relieves. This book makes us remember that all Maya ruins visible to the nowadays tourist are the sad remainders which robbers, acid rain and cheap restoration left over from what has once been elegant Mayan temple design. (Review by David Unger) |