Customer Reviews

Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea (Peabody Essex Museum)

5 star:		(7)
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Excellent photographs. Small but well argumented texts for each one of the 99 archaeological Maya items organized for the exhibition of the same name. Many objects are now seen with detail for the first time, a valuable resource for ancient Maya researchers. The exhibition will visit Salem, Mass.; and Fort Worth, TX in 2010; and the Saint Louis Art Museum during 2011. But you can admire many times the exhibition trapped by this publication.

I read about this exhibit in the periodical AMERICAS and ordered the book. As an exhibit overview, this book is among the top of its class. Not all exhibit books work, but this one does. I own many books about the Maya and these images are new.

Fiery Pool is a great book and worth the price. It adds to my collection of Maya books. This has beautiful pictures and many authors and all the work. Each contributor adds much knowledge.

As noted by previous reviewers, many of the images in this catalog of the show currently at the Peabody Essex Museum have never been seen before. Indeed, some of the pieces in the show have never been out of the curatorial shelves of the various institutions to which they have been entrusted. Thus it is indeed a treat to see the images and read the short but concise descriptions.

The show and this catalog also deal with a previously, and still, little touched upon aspect of Maya culture and art. The role of the sea and water in the Maya mythos and cosmos.

You cannot view the images and read the material and not be struck by the similarity of some of the works, and by the similarity to the beliefs (or what we think we know of the beliefs) of the Mississippian culture. But, that of course is beyond the aim and exploration of this exhibition and catalog. For those who are interested in the Maya, it would be a mistake not to take a look at this book.

Aside from the brilliant-colored images, and there are many, the text is informative and inciteful. It is a book that teaches and entertains as well.

While not a scholar of Mayan history and art, as a cultural anthropologist, this book resounded in so many ways with what I have long suspected was a serious gap in the study of these people in these particular geographic and aesthetic surroundings. One would hope this could reflect the highest ideals of archaeological work and interpretation.

This exhibition catalogue is first-class in every way. The production quality is excellent and the photos are beautifully done. The artefact descriptions and essays are loaded with information but extremely readable. All the necessary behind-the-scenes information is included. I found Fiery Pool really interesting and enjoyable to read, and consider it a valuable addition to my shelf of books on Precolumbian Mesoamerica.