Customer Reviews

Tikal: An Illustrated History of the Ancient Maya Capital

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I have visited Tikal three times over the past 20 years. I wish Montgomery's book had been available prior to making those excursions. It's a wonderful resource that explains in easily understandable terms the significance of this phenomenal Mayan city and the civilization that supported it for so many centuries.

This is a readable account of a potentially dry subject: the chronology of the rulers of Tikal. The author has collected information from a lot of sources and notes when he ventures into conjecture. The comments along the way on the how the people lived and the reasons for their civilization's eventual downfall are linked with the chronology itself; although you learn a lot about these subjects this book does not read like "a history of the Mayan people". It is recent and seems to take in the latest research. I just got back from my first visit to Tikal (go!) and it was really helpful in understanding the grandeur of the ancient city as it was and its relationship with other Mayan cities and the other Mesoamerican cultures. The "illustrated" part of the title is somewhat of a misnomer; there are lots of drawings of glyphs of the rulers' names, line drawings of many stelae and some photos, but there are better "picture books", though perhaps not as generally informative as this one.

I read the book because i am visiting Tikal later in the month and i wanted something that would give me some information about the place.Since there are not that many books on Tikal, i picked up this one.The book is a good introduction for the topic.The description of the place and its buildings is good.The author does a good job in letting us know the purpose and characteristics of every important place in Tikal.But that's basically it.The author doesnt tell us anymore about the Mayas per se.You dont read about their daily lives and the beliefs.Another thing is that, to my impression, the author dwells too much on Tikal relationship with other cities in the area which sometimes made me feel like he was just giving too much importance to the political aspect of TIkal instead of telling us more about Tikal, its people and what happened inside the city.But,again, it is a very good introduction for your studies on the Mayas.