The Maya
Ninth Edition

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian. There’s no denying that Michael Coe is one of the foremost scholars of the Mayan world, and that this is known for being a prime text to introduce people to the Mayan world in an academic sense (rather than a frivolous ‘clearly they were inspired by aliens’ or other su......more

Who Is This Book For? I picked this book up because it’s reputed to be the best primer on Maya civilization. I teach world history and I like to be knowledgeable about what I teach. Plus I know my textbook is hopelessly out of date given how rapidly Maya studies have grown since we first started crac......more

The Greatness of the Maya before ethnocide and genocide The main interest of this book is that it follows the standard history of the Maya from beginning to end and city after city. The index is then very useful to follow one particular city or one particular reference. Each case is both described in......more

This was the best of the introductory books I've read about the Maya. Coe is a clear and engaging writer, excellent as a popularist. Newer editions are much updated as the Mayan script has since been decyphered. For an account of that see his 'Breaking the Mayan Code'.......more

an overview of Maya civilization----from the Sixties Far from being a Maya scholar, I'm just a reader interested in ancient civilizations, one who visited Copan decades ago, but hasn't forgotten it. I bought this book many years back, but never got around to reading it till now. I read Arthur Demares......more