Mayan Civilization: A History From Beginning to End

I didn't know much about Mayan history, and I was interested in learning more about them. I did find this book interesting, and I do enjoy learning about history, but my one issue with this book was that it did get a bit boring. 3 5 stars from me.

My bad for not checking the number of pages. It's actually quite a short book with little detail. Not the in-depth look into the culture and history that I had hoped for. But, it you want just a quick peek, it's well written and covers the ground.

This easy to read and understand short book was helpful. I feel that I know a bit more about the Maya and their three periods as discussed

Absolutely great short book on the Maya people & their culture. From the beginning to the conclusion. The ancient Maya of Central America believed that a great Ceiba tree stood at the center of the earth, connecting the terrestrial world to the spirit-world above. I immediately looked up this tree. I have seen it often on my trips to Colombia. The author (not sure if this is Henry Freeman, but it is from the One Hour History set) takes you through the 3 phases of the Mayan civilizations, from the BC era to the Middle Age era when they were strongest to the pre & post Columbian era when the Spaniards finished off what was left of their fading empire. He shows how difficult it has been to maintain accurate historical accounts, such as when a priest decided it best to burn all their recorded texts. He also walks you through the daily lives from their caste system. What the peasants ate, what the upper class ate, & how gruesome some of their human sacrifices were. As usual, a lot of blame is rightfully bestowed to Cortez & the like, but there is plenty of reason to believe how lucky the Irish & Europeans were that the trade winds allowed them to come to the new world. Had the winds blown to Europe, instead of defiling the name of Columbus, we might be calling for the end to Montezuma Day. I like to remind people every inch of this planet belonged to someone else before the current occupier forcefully took it from who owned it last. Note to the author: You could do with less bibliography in a one hour read. Maybe list them at the end. Reading though all these made my one hour read closer to a 4 day read. But I highly recommend anyone interested in history to get on the “One Hour History” train. You get a free ebook each Friday. Nice job.

I'm a fan of history and enjoy reading all kinds of history bok.Honestly liked this one and it's enjoyable.I was interesting in the new findings about Mayan civilization.So funny.Definetly a great bok and easy to read.

Covering the Maya at a very high level, the author introduces the diversity and deep history of Mayan history and culture. A decent introduction to the natives of the Yucatán and easy to read as well.

It is difficult to focus upon the content of this book due to the barrage of spelling and grammar errors, which started on the title page where the author could not even provide the correct name of his book (title page says “Maya Civilization”). While one can usually decipher the author’s meaning, reading the book is sometimes reminiscent of listening to someone whose native language is not English. “We may shed a tear from nostalgia” or “…the attempts to rebuild the world of the Maya as they saw it are numerous and fascinating when connected” are two of the many examples of ultimately understandable yet slightly fractured English.Beginning with Chapter Three (Different Periods of Maya History), the editing seems to improve although the author peppers his text with a continual listing of books rather than creating an appendix. The result disturbs the flow of the information and could have easily been avoided. The author establishes three distinct time periods, then dances from one to another and gives up the opportunity to present a cohesive picture of Mayan society at different times in history.While it is true that the author has compiled enough facts for an Hourly History book, lacking a clear direction or outline reduces the impact that could have been achieved. A careful edit and following the basic rules of grammar would have also helped. This is a three-star book at best, and two-and-a-half stars could certainly be justified.

The Mayan civilization is one of my favorite things to read about. I've always been super intrigued by the Maya and their whole society. So it's not a surprise that I ended up really enjoying this book.This was a really great book if you want to learn more about the Mayan civilization. It was informative and with 61 pages it can be read so fast. The new findings especially were very interesting to me. I also loved learning about the connection with Charles Lindbergh and Edgar Allan Poe. I didn't know that before this book.There's also so much more to learn about the Maya. If the invaders hadn't destroyed so many Mayan artifacts we'd know and understand their culture so much more. But new discoveries can always be made, of course. We can only hope.Overall, Mayan Civilization: A History From Beginning to End was another great Hourly History book that I enjoyed immensely. As usual with these books, I would highly recommend this one as well.

I really enjoyed reading the e-book Mayan Civilization: A History From Beginning to End. iIve always been interested in learning more about the Mayan's and what happened to them, but i was a bit dissapointed that many of the statements by the author(s) are referenced to another book or article. The Mayan culture was very complex and most of their writings were destroyed by the Catholic missionaries,and many previous theories about their society has been found to be incorrect as new evidence is uncovered.. The culture was really very interesting in that they believed in 160 deities, various spirits, had numerous rituals, and conducted sacrifices of animals and humans. This book is a really great introduction and guide to find out information about the Mayan Civilization. A really enjoyable read and if you knew nothing about the Mayan Culture you will after reading this book. 5 stars

What a good read for a free introduction into the Mayan history and culture it gives a basic intro and leaves me wanting to delve deeper into this famous culture

Great book very informative learning their history and culture and what lead to there downfalltoo busy fighting amongst themselves and their neighbours instead of uniting as a nation they were killed tribe by tribe easy pickings for the spaniardsIt's a similiar to the American Indian if they had banded together it would be a different America than today

A really interesting read, well written but could be greatly improved by adding more information. Written by an expert who probably knows a lot more of the minor details of the Mayans and doesn't realise that the non-expert reader would benefit by also knowing these.

In line with the other books from this Collection, nothing more, nothing less.It gives a brief, quick introduction to one of the most famous and relevant pre-Columbian civilizations without going to much into detail.A perfect read while commuting.