The Last Lords of Palenque: The Lacandon Mayas of the Mexican Rain Forest [Paperback]

Victor Perera (Author), Robert D. Bruce (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520053095 | ISBN-13: 978-0520053090 | Publication Date: April 9, 1986

The Last Lords of Lalenque is an extraordinary firsthand account of life among the Lacandon Indians of Nahá in southern Mexico. A community of 250 whose genealogy has been obscured by the absence of a written tradition, the Lacandones may nevertheless be traced back linguistically and culturally to the great Maya civilization. They are the sole inheritors of an oral tradition that preserves-more than 400 years after the Spanish Conquest-a cosmology, a morality and a psychology as sophisticated as our own. Journalist and novelist Victor Perera and linguist Robert Bruce have lived among the Lacandones, chronicling their imperiled Mayan culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (April 9, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520053095
• ISBN-13: 978-0520053090
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last Lords of Palenque offers glimpse into indigenous life and issues, November 13, 2010

By 

Mark D. Benner - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Last Lords of Palenque: The Lacandon Mayas of the Mexican Rain Forest (Paperback)

The Last Lords of Palenque takes place roughly between 1970 and 1984 and documents two anthropologists time and experience with one branch of the surviving Mexican rain forest Mayan. This time span marks a time of change and intrusion by industrialized global forces into the land and traditional lives of the Mayans. Deforestation of sacred mahogany is documented as the Mexican government in cahoots with foreign lumber companies and evangelical forces in league with the CIA attempt to divide and conquer Mayan leadership to gain access to the rights to chop down trees and modernize Mayan life.
It also documents the struggle between other Mexican Indian cultures who have been awarded lands by both state and national governments which also infringe on the Mayan homeland, and who now also pose a threat to the Mayans as they move into those lands and use slash and burn agricultural techniques.
The struggle described is not unlike any other indigenous groups plight in dealing with corporate global greed and the corruption of governments. Many of the results of deforestation described in this book are now being felt in the Yucatan and other traditional areas of the Mayan homeland as flooding from storms now creates greater damage including landslides due to deforestation.
The book is a decent anthropological view into the disappearing culture, yet easy to read. It gives insights into the cultural arrangements of the Lancandon Maya, as well as the religious and historical views of Lancandon shaman.