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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780393324075
ISBN: 0393324079
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 752
Publication Date: 2002-09
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company

The first anthology in any language to represent the full trajectory of this remarkable literature.

From new interpretations of the glyphic writings of the Maya through the poetic response to events in modern Chiapas, here is a history of Mexico and Central America from the Indian point of view. In these pages the reader will encounter, often in new translations, the deeply affecting Aztec poems, the horrific battles of conquest, and the thoughtful philosophy of the Mayan "bible," the Popol Vuh. Full, clear introductions make this extraordinary material accessible to all readers.

In the Language of Kings is a gemstone of cultural strength for those who trace their ancestry to Mesoamerica, as well as an essential resource for historians and anthropologists. Above all, it is literature: intimate, grand, painful, proud, and finally renascent in the new awakening of the original peoples of Mesoamerica.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: from the graves of dead societies
Review: Leon-Portilla has amassed a rare thing. A compilation mostly drawn from dead societies. Much of this reflects decades of research by dedicated scholars, who sweated over deciphering Mayan glyphs. A task initially thought to be impossible.

The book also shows that the terms used in the Americas of "Hispanic" or "Latino" are totally inadequate and insulting when describing those who still have some nature heritage. Those labels are of the European adventurers [or freebooters or imperialists].

Reading the deciphered poetry and narratives shows a richness that does not hark to Castile or Cadiz. A richness of a totally different society.

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