Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya

If you're out of date about the latest developments in Maya historiography, or if you're just developing an interest in the subject, you'll find this book to be of value. It gives the history of the major classic era cities (the book is completely about the classic period, and only digresses outside of that era to add supporting information), and does it in a format that is attractive and interesting. Indeed, many of the illustrations are of pieces that have only recently been unearthed, and this increases the interest of the book.

The one drawback is that the book is a little too advanced for the beginner - it can be difficult to work out the historical signposts - and a little too basic for the student already familiar with most recent work. A little more data about the overall context of the period and culture would be of some value. Aside from this one objection, it is an admirable work, well-written enough to capture the interest of the intelligent general reader while not giving the feeling that the authors are talking down to a non-specialist level. Definitely worth the read.


Kings of the Yucatan   February 25, 2002
 4 out of 8 found this review helpful

The `Chronicle of the Mayan Kings' is a beautifully illustrated chronicle of the Mayan kings of the poorly known Mayan kingdoms of the Yucatan like Tikal and Copan. The names of the Mayan kings are shown in Mayan hieroglyphs. There are accounts of what we know of the accomplishments of men such as Yik'in Chan Kawil of Tikal and Yukmook Cheen 2 of Calukmal. We see the relations among the Mayan states. There are timelines to make the time periods more clear. Special features describe the complex Mayan calendar and the Mayan number system, which is based on twenty instead of ten.
This book is an excellent account of what little is known about the Mayan states.


A book for all your Classic Maya needs   November 11, 2001
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book is a perfect example on how to divulge history without making it too simple or pandering to the "sensationalist" aspects of the tale. The research on the ancient Maya culture over the last decades has revealed enough information that a more or less complete sequence of events can be drawn over several centuries. It also has revealed that the Mayan did not seem able, or willing, to strive towards the establishment of a centralized empire as others civilizations tried. The result is a complex story involving the struggles between loosely organized groups of petty states around a few major ones. Telling that tale in an exciting way is thus more difficult: no Alexander the Great figure here to follow.... But Martin and Grube have been able to spin the yard of quite a tale. Once you pass the catchy title that makes you wonder whether the inside will be lightweight history, you do realize that this is a very complete, if brief, book. After a concise introductory chapter, the authors chose deliberately to tell the story of a few individual cities. You might disagree as to why they chose those (Northern cities such as Uxmal are absent). You might have wanted a more unified tale of Mayan civilization. Or perhaps a more people's oriented history. But the fact is that there are not many facts on the ancient Maya in spite of recent advances. It is to the merit of the authors to make the most of these facts to write an informative story, a city based history as the Mayan were, without entering into undue speculations. And that the book is loaded with nice pictures, interesting maps and diagrams is a great plus. Nice enough for a coffee table, deep enough for a serious library.