From the Publisher
A FASCINATING INDIGENOUS SOCIETY
The Maya have a lot to tell. This ancient civilization was characterized by a flourishing market, which was based on a very particular currency: cocoa beans. In this book, you will find all the information that has come down to the present day about Maya society!
AN ADVANCED PEOPLE LOOKING UPWARD
The astronomical discoveries of the Maya people are extraordinary, even when compared to more recent discoveries. The Mayas were among the first to chart the firmament, and they studied the movement of the stars, drawing precise information that allowed them to create the most famous calendar ever: the Maya calendar.
RELIGION AND MYSTICAL BELIEFS
Archaeological excavations and various findings have allowed us to trace the religious customs of this fascinating society. These customs, however, have some macabre and sometimes frightening traits. You will discover more about their human sacrifices, the practice of mutilation as an offering to their relatives, and the custom of burying the dead under the floors of a house!
THE MAYA EMPIRE AND ITS ANCIENT CULTURE AWAITS YOU
Learn all about one of the people groups that lived in Central America!
Although the Maya people did not successfully predict the end of the world, they achieved much, and their impact can be felt today.
When European peoples came into contact with the Maya, what they found was a set of people with a long history behind them surrounded by a strong aura of mystery.
The conquistadors were fascinated by their mountain-like pyramids, detailed astronomical studies, and hieroglyphics. Even their markets featured an advanced trading system based on the exchange of cocoa beans!
In this book, you will discover everything about the Maya people: their customs, their cruelest rituals, and their innovations and contributions to humanity.
If you want to learn more about Maya history, you’ll find it here. In this book, you will learn:
- The history of the Maya, from their beginning to their collapse;
- Their ideas of astronomy that made them famous;
- Their resistance against the Europeans;
- An explanation of the advanced functioning of their society;
- The macabre rites and beliefs of the people.
K J Price –
Great series
bogwort47 –
In another review of a book in this series I struggled to put into words about how I felt about the presentation style which I liked greatly. This review title perhaps gets closer. Anyone who found history a dry boring series of events in the past needs to try this new presentation of how it more really was like with multiple overlapping parallels of activity without start and finish points but fadings, evolutions and mergings. It sounds complicated but through its realism it is much more easily understood because our brains are already programmed to these realities of human interplay. Often in the past historians have given names to times and peoples just to try to create an identity to describe them but this approach has not always made it easy for some students to connect with. These books have made me realise that peoples and times are often more like clouds merging and breaking up in an infinity of ways. My congratulations to the brains that have brought this to fruition. ‘Migrations’ though over smaller distances, but still within the bounds of knowledge of the players demonstrate the massive parallels we are seeing today with migrations across the world, motivated by the same spectrum of reasons perhaps summed up by ‘there has to be something better’. But is the grass always greener? That is for the reader to decide I guess based on their own preferences. Enjoy. Footnotes: Others have mentioned the poor quality of images – I found this also on the kindle versions and would urge some improvement in future releases/updates. Equally, criticisms have been levelled at errors, poor english and a lack of detail. I think we have to remember that any book needs to be aimed at a specific audience. In my view, this and the series has been aimed at those with little or no prior knowledge with the objective of sparking more detailed interest perhaps or just an understanding of the broader histories of these peoples. If you are looking for a fully up to date scientific treatise on everything discovered up to the cut off for publication then this book should not be your target. On the other hand as an entry to the target subject it is still to be commended.
Shreya Naha –
It’s black and white inside and the pictures are not great. Nonetheless , a good read.
John From Comber –
This series of books makes learning so interesting & is a must have if you’ve kids in the family.
Antonio García –
Just amazing
I really loved it, I have had not realized the massive economic and social structure of the Maya civilization. Wonderful!!
Gregg Bender –
Good general history
This book is a good place for the reader interested in an overview of the Mayans and their history. The book explains the history up through the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Amazon Customer –
Good, quick overview of Mayan history
I wanted an overview because of time constraints, and this book provided an easy to read, clear timeline and summary. I took off one star as there were enough errors in the text that is was a bit annoying.
Amazon Customer –
Maya Civilization
Great book, very interesting, nothing I do not like about it, learned stuff I did not know. I recommend it
Logan –
Excellent Idea – Substandard Execution
As a history buff I REALLY REALLY wanted to enjoy this book, as I absolutely love the idea and motivation behind Enthralling History’s endeavor – to consolidate select portions of history into an easy to understand and interesting booklet.I have read other books from this same publisher, and some are definitely of noticeably higher quality and more expertly put together than others – this is one of those which unfortunately is in need of quite a bit of work.- It repeated itself too frequently without adding anything more to the subject matter- Some parts were extremely poorly written to the point I was unable to even decipher what the author was attempting to communicate- Clearly the editor, if there even was one, was either EXTREMELY lazy or does not have a clue what they are doing, much less a firm grasp of the English language; which one would assume is a requirement when writing book in said language – there were NUMEROUS errors from simple misspellings, to incorrect dates and even a few outright contradictions to be found within the text itself- Most of the visual representations are of very low quality, as in every one I have come across in all of the Enthralling History books I have yet come across (i.e. the print is too small and/or pixelated to read, colors and shades as signified from the map keys are nonexistent as everything is in black and white with virtually no color scale gradient, cities and other areas specifically mentioned in the surrounding text are not to be found on the maps, etc.)The shoddy work and poor execution of this particular text has NOT yet stopped me from continuing to read similar books from this series (I currently own and have read over a dozen of them), but I would really prefer to see some consistency and cohesion to the writing, not to mention a more solid experienced editor.