Time among the Maya : travels in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico /

While the cultures of the ancient Mayas, Incas and Aztecs are elevated to the status of national icon in Latin America, their modern descendants--barefoot, uneducated, potentially rebellious peasants--are viewed by the Ladino majority (of mixed European ancestry) as obstacles to progress, a source of embarrassment. Traveling on foot, by bush plane, boat and train, Wright explored the home of the ancient and contemporary Mayas. He portrays a people who are shattered but unbroken in spirit. This impressionistic travel diary starts in Belize City, ``a cloacal, clapboard Venice,'' then moves to Guatemala, ``a country where things are easily hidden, especially the truth'' and where a symbiosis of U.S. business interests with the ruling Ladino elite holds down the Indian majority and squelches grass-roots change, according to the author. In the Mexican Yucatan, he ponders a Mesoamerican civilization perpetually aware of its own fragility. A likable companion who shares his breakfast with ocelots and visits remote ruins, Wright ( Cut Stones and Crossroads ) fuses adventure, politics, archeology and history in a riveting read. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Wright takes us along to ancient and modern sites inhabited by Mayan Indians in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico and concludes that the Maya are not facing extinction from the onslaught of ``civilization'' into their areas, but, on the contrary are surviving as they always have, by grafting new ways onto an ancient base. Spanish conquistadors found cities in America which far surpassed anything in Europe--with tall buildings and an accurate calendar. While the book offers a fine overview of Mayan civilization, it is not for the faint-hearted: It is quite scholarly. Readers interested in the calendar and the Mayan time reference will find this book valuable. For large and special collections.-- Louise Leonard, Univ. of Florida Lib., Gainesville (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Wright (Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in the Two Worlds of Peru; On Fiji Islands) is a journalist, travel-writer, and--significantly--a Maya scholar. Here, his knowledge of the dauntingly complex Mayan culture (which built great ceremonial cities including Chich‚n Itz during the Classic Age, A.D. 300-900) results in a corresponding complex--and valuable--book. The ""Time"" of the title refers both to the two and a half months Wright spent in Mesoamerica in 1985, and to the fact that much Mayan religion, philosophy, and political activity is informed by a cyclical vision of time and extraordinarily sophisticated calendrical calculations--all of which are covered here, making for some rough spots for the unmathematically inclined in spite of the author's clarity. Wright also provides a broad and contrasting look at the history, ethnography, and language of different Mayan groups; and his discussion of archaeological sites will be useful to serious visitors (he's especially good on Tikal, Quirigu, Palenque, and Bonampak). His encounters with the modern Maya reveal survival and persistence of tradition--in spite of the twin threats of assimilation in Belize and Mexico, and repression--including physical extermination--in Guatemala. Not a fast read, but a mix of scholarship and travel-adventure that celebrates Mayan culture and may even play some role in preserving it. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.