Below is an easy-to-browse gallery
of books that cater to those who are interested in visiting Mexico or learning
more about its ancient past. The majority of descriptions below are by independent
editors. Feel free to purchase these books directly from Amazon.com!
The
Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient Mesoamerican City
:
Northeast
of modern-day Mexico City stand the remnants of one of the world's largest preindustrial
cities, Teotihuacan. Monumental in scale, Teotihuacan is organized along a three-mile-long
thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead, that leads up to the massive Pyramid of
the Moon. Lining the avenue are numerous plazas and temples, which indicate that
the city once housed a large population that engaged in complex rituals and ceremonies.
Although scholars have studied Teotihuacan for over a century, the precise nature
of its religious and political life has remained unclear, in part because no one
has yet deciphered the glyphs that may explain much about the city's organization
and belief systems. In this groundbreaking book, Annabeth Headrick analyzes Teotihuacan's
art and architecture, in the light of archaeological data and Mesoamerican ethnography,
to propose a new model for the city's social and political organization.
Challenging
the view that Teotihuacan was a peaceful city in which disparate groups united
in an ideology of solidarity, Headrick instead identifies three social groups
that competed for political power—rulers, kin-based groups led by influential
lineage heads, and military orders that each had their own animal insignia...
Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents: The Public Sculpture
of El Tajín :
"I find this book to be a superior piece of scholarship in every way."
John Pohl, Peter Jay Sharp Curator and Lecturer in the Art of the Ancient Americas,
Princeton University Art Museum.
The Olmecs: America's First Civilization (Ancient Peoples and
Places) :
The Olmecs of southern Mexico are America's oldest civilization and Mesoamerica's
"Mother Culture." Famous for their Colossal Heads carved from giant
boulders, the Olmecs have fascinated the public and archaeologists since the 1940s
when National Geographic magazine reported the initial explorations of their centers.
Despite well-publicized discoveries of spectacular basalt sculptures, portable
jade objects, and richly decorated pottery vessels, until recently almost nothing
was known about Olmec history, foreign contacts, and daily life.
Now archaeologists
have recovered information that allows them to assemble a remarkably broad picture
of Olmec culture, its accomplishments, and its impact on later Mexican civilizations.
The Olmecs presents the first modern overview of information from recent archaeological
field projects and studies of Olmec art. In addition to detailed coverage of Olmec
life, culture, and art, it examines the Olmec presence in the surrounding areas
of Mexico and their role in the formation of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilization.
Profusely illustrated, it will become the standard work on this enigmatic culture.
152 illustrations, 20 in color.
The Maya: Palaces and Pyramids of the Rain Forest (World Archiecture)
:
This
volume retraces the development and magnificent flowering of Mayan architecture
in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize over the period 300 B.C.-A.D. 1500.
Tikal, the earliest Mayan religious center, Palenque, famous for its ceremonial
center, and Copan, with its hieroglyphic staircase featuring 2500 glyphs, are
among the cites featured.
An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient
Mexico and the Maya :
The myths and beliefs of the great pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica
have baffled and fascinated outsiders ever since the Spanish Conquest. Yet, until
now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine
symbolic world. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya is the first-ever
English-language dictionary of Mesoamerican mythology and religion. Nearly 300
entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of the Olmecs,
Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs...
The First American: The Suppressed Story of the People Who Discovered
the New World :
"Read Christopher Hardaker's shocking and enlightening book and you will
realize that what we are taught about prehistory is often not the truth but a
story fashioned by archaeologists to serve their own worldviews, careers, ego
and interests. Hardaker does us all a service by exposing the facts and fictions
behind conventional wisdom about the peopling of the Americas." -- Graham
Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods.
Northeast
of modern-day Mexico City stand the remnants of one of the world's largest preindustrial
cities, Teotihuacan. Monumental in scale, Teotihuacan is organized along a three-mile-long
thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead, that leads up to the massive Pyramid of
the Moon. Lining the avenue are numerous plazas and temples, which indicate that
the city once housed a large population that engaged in complex rituals and ceremonies.
"I find this book to be a superior piece of scholarship in every way."
John Pohl, Peter Jay Sharp Curator and Lecturer in the Art of the Ancient Americas,
Princeton University Art Museum.
The Olmecs of southern Mexico are America's oldest civilization and Mesoamerica's
"Mother Culture." Famous for their Colossal Heads carved from giant
boulders, the Olmecs have fascinated the public and archaeologists since the 1940s
when National Geographic magazine reported the initial explorations of their centers.
Despite well-publicized discoveries of spectacular basalt sculptures, portable
jade objects, and richly decorated pottery vessels, until recently almost nothing
was known about Olmec history, foreign contacts, and daily life. 
This
volume retraces the development and magnificent flowering of Mayan architecture
in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize over the period 300 B.C.-A.D. 1500.
Tikal, the earliest Mayan religious center, Palenque, famous for its ceremonial
center, and Copan, with its hieroglyphic staircase featuring 2500 glyphs, are
among the cites featured. 
The myths and beliefs of the great pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica
have baffled and fascinated outsiders ever since the Spanish Conquest. Yet, until
now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine
symbolic world. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya is the first-ever
English-language dictionary of Mesoamerican mythology and religion. Nearly 300
entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of the Olmecs,
Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs...
"Read Christopher Hardaker's shocking and enlightening book and you will
realize that what we are taught about prehistory is often not the truth but a
story fashioned by archaeologists to serve their own worldviews, careers, ego
and interests. Hardaker does us all a service by exposing the facts and fictions
behind conventional wisdom about the peopling of the Americas." -- Graham
Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods.
