Sons of the Shaking Earth

Rating:
Summary: Extremely wordy, and unecessarily poetic.
Review: Extremely wordy, and immensely poetic. These are attibutes which would make for a great read were one reading an overely dramatic piece of fiction, but which when incorporated into factual writing merely reduce the credibility of the fact. This is, ofcourse, not to mention the reduction of the readability of the book, and the ability of the reader to follow what "the heck" he(Wolf) is trying to say! The first seven chapters are incredibly rough, and by the time one reaches the last chapters, one is left gasping for life.

Rating:
Summary: The Continuous Pulsation of Forces in Meso-America
Review: From the outset Wolf forces the reader to conceptualize with bold metaphors the complex socio-economic forces that have created and destroyed the first market societies in Meso-America. For example, in his account of the pre Colombian development of the area, small markets had continued to form large, "centripetal galactic systems" like the ones around Teotihuacan, Cholula and the Peten until the centers somehow failed. At that point, the "centrifugal" forces allowed the "satellite systems" to slip away, becoming basic "planetary systems," that functioned in "regional isolation." However, then inevitably the process of specialization, the division of labor and the creation of surplus began building towards yet another cycle of cohesion. "In this way, galaxies," he concludes, "... yield to solar systems, until another key area can generate power for a new metabolic cycle of integration." The metaphorical approach is a useful introduction to the problem of diverse development within the area, but the individual examples of social integration and disintegration are not analyzed in any detail. The bibliography is good but in need of up dating.

Rating:
Summary: A great tale well told
Review: No one could invent a history more interesting than the actual events in Mexico and Guatemala. Wolf tells the story in a comprehensive way and with great flourish. This is one of the best single volumes I know about the precolonial era and the conquest; the later chapters are less significant. The book does require a pretty high degree of literacy, but it is worth the effort.