Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (Volume 2)

Rating:
Summary: timless classic
Review: This is a Must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the mayan culture. Still easy to read even though it was written over 150 years ago! Imagine you are one of the first explores to adventure into the the jungles of the Yucatan and vist the ancient cities hidden in the jungle. I wish I had read this book before My trip to the Yucatan, would have made my trip that much more enjoyable! The Catherwood engravings are spectacular!

Rating:
Summary: timless classic
Review: This is a Must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the mayan culture. Still easy to read even though it was written over 150 years ago! Imagine you are one of the first explores to adventure into the the jungles of the Yucatan and vist the ancient cities hidden in the jungle. I wish I had read this book before My trip to the Yucatan, would have made my trip that much more enjoyable! The Catherwood engravings are spectacular!

Rating:
Summary: Five Stars is an understatement
Review: This is one of the rare occasions when 5 stars doesn't measure up to the book being rated. I have read every volume of "Incidents..." many times (there are two volumes of this book, as well as two volumes of "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan"), and I've also given the four volumes as gifts many times. Additionally, I have traveled to most of the sites Stephens writes about, with book-in-hand, to simultaneously gaze with wonder at the magnificient sketches made over 150-yrs ago, and at the same objects sketched as they exist today. But this is not the only attraction of these volumes. Unlike most books about archeology, which are dry and overly academic, these volumes vividly recount the exciting, and often dangerous, day-to-day adventures of a couple blokes looking for ancient lost cities in a region that just happens to be smack-dab in the middle of a sanguinary 19th-century civil war. These books could be mistaken for a terrific adventure novel, were it not for the fact that every word is true. Stevens' graphic descriptions of the local characters and events is heavily laced with humor and insight. What a delight these books are. I think I'll start reading them (again!).