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Rating: 
Summary: Splendid and Important History of the Maya
Review: I am a friend of the author, but I wouldn't read a book that didn't hold my interest and shed some light on the Yucatec Maya. This book did both. The 19th century Maya are every bit as fascinating as were their ancient ancestors and the million of so Maya who live today. Weren't aware of that? That's a shame because the Maya saga continues to unfold and Sullivan is a person who understands it intimately. An Irish-American hacienda owner is murdered at his remote plantation in northern Yucatan, not far from present-day Cancun.
Sullivan knows how he was killed and who killed him, rebellious Maya who lived (and still live) in the region south of Cancun. But why was Stephens killed? This is the task Sullivan sets for himself. The intrigues, political and economic, are complex and twisted. They rise from the level of regional Yucatan squabbles right up to the United States' president, Ulysses Grant. Sullivan documents his information with care (his notes are good reading themselves), but this book reads like a thriller. To know something about the Maya and their history is to gain a better grasp of how people and their culture evolve. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid and Important History of the Maya
Review: I am a friend of the author, but I wouldn't read a book that didn't hold my interest and shed some light on the Yucatec Maya. This book did both. The 19th century Maya are every bit as fascinating as were their ancient ancestors and the million of so Maya who live today. Weren't aware of that? That's a shame because the Maya saga continues to unfold and Sullivan is a person who understands it intimately. An Irish-American hacienda owner is murdered at his remote plantation in northern Yucatan, not far from present-day Cancun.
Sullivan knows how he was killed and who killed him, rebellious Maya who lived (and still live) in the region south of Cancun. But why was Stephens killed? This is the task Sullivan sets for himself. The intrigues, political and economic, are complex and twisted. They rise from the level of regional Yucatan squabbles right up to the United States' president, Ulysses Grant. Sullivan documents his information with care (his notes are good reading themselves), but this book reads like a thriller. To know something about the Maya and their history is to gain a better grasp of how people and their culture evolve. I recommend this book.
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