Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society [Paperback]

Patricia A. McAnany (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2000

"This is a brilliant book. In fact, it is probably one of the best books ever written about the ancient Maya and certainly one of the most important. . . . The quality and originality of [McAnany's] work have given us a whole new context for consideration and laid the groundwork for a level of discussion unfamiliar to Maya archaeology. I look forward to the exciting dialogs this book will generate." --Journal of Field Archaeology "A much needed effort to pull together disparate information into a coherent model of ancient Maya society that, without ignoring the elite segment of society, gives due attention to people at the 'grass roots' without whose resources and labor the Maya elite could not have existed. It is thus a more holistic account of ancient Maya society than most. . . . This well-written book will repay reading by Mayanists and non-Mayanists alike." --American Anthropologist "A well-developed interpretation of Maya social organization based on the effective integration of diverse sets of data. This volume is a useful addition to the expanding literature on the role of ideology in the development and maintenance of ancient social stratification and centralized authority. [It] also contributes fresh perspectives to discussions of the importance of nonelite strata in Mesoamerican society and related topics, such as the economics of the pre-Hispanic household and the archaeology of domestic structures." --Journal of Anthropological Research

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a brilliant book. In fact, it is probably one of the best books ever written about the ancient Maya and certainly one of the most important... The quality and originality of [McAnany's] work have given us a whole new context for consideration and laid the groundwork for a level of discussion unfamiliar to Maya archaeology. I look forward to the exciting dialogs this book will generate." -Journal of Field Archaeology "A much needed effort to pull together disparate information into a coherent model of ancient Maya society that, without ignoring the elite segment of society, gives due attention to people at the 'grass roots' without whose resources and labour the Maya elite could not have existed. It is thus a more holistic account of ancient Maya society than most... This well-written book will repay reading by Mayanists and non-Mayanists alike." -American Anthropologist "A well-developed interpretation of Maya social organisation based on the effective integration of diverse sets of data. This volume is a useful addition to the expanding literature on the role of ideology in the development and maintenance of ancient social stratification and centralised authority. [It] also contributes fresh perspectives to discussions of the importance of non-elite strata in Mesoamerican society and related topics, such as the economics of the pre-Hispanic household and the archaeology of domestic structures." -Journal of Anthropological Research "... the tremendous insights into ancient Maya culture and the important contribution to ways of thinking about Maya studies [are] offered by this admirable book."--Anthropos 96.2001 "McAnany's attempt to deal with the dynamics of ancient Maya society is to be lauded ... This work points the way in whcih Maya archaeological studies should go ..."--Journal of the RAI, March 2001

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (March 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292752369
• ISBN-13: 978-0292752368
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,864,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Examination of Maya Politics, April 23, 2001

By 

Randal Doering (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society (Paperback)

This book is a well-written, thoroughly-researched examination of ancient Maya political structures, both as models and in actual functioning. It is based on Classic information sources, Colonial documentation and modern anthropological observation and discusses the tensions, pitfalls and benefits generated by the Maya way of political organization. I've read several works on Maya politics in the past few years, and though this volume is slim it is rich with both data and discussion of how the data can be viewed to rebuild a functional political system. Professor McAnany is much less interested in creating an elegant theory and much more concerned with trying to postulate how Maya politics actually worked, based on what the Maya themselves tell us. For those with an interest in the Maya this is an important book which pulls together older political theories and the latest information in a way that breathes life into the ruined cities and the people who built them.