Ancient Maya Civilization (1981)

Solid going! The author, in his self-deprecatory introduction, says that it was intended for a non-academic audience, and describes it as "a short book". Well, I suppose it is, compared to some; but to make up for that , it has thirty pages of the 256 devoted to descriptive further reading lists selected to back up the Introduction and successive chapters. Each of these, from the first, devoted to the discovery of the Maya to the last, on the Maya mind, is careful to present a balanced view of the opinions of the scholars who have contributed to the understanding of the subject. The two sections of photographic illustrations are well reproduced, though scarcely enough to convey the range of Mayan art and architecture. The maps included in the text have obviously been reduced to fit the size of the page, which results in overcrowding of features and captions. However, the text of this Folio Society edition is well printed on good paper with wide margins and the book is attractively bound. ( )