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A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya Paperback – January 1, 1990

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 154 ratings
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The Mayan world explained.
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  1. Print length
    542 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Morrow
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1990
  5. ISBN-10
    0688112048
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0688112042
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00454UBEW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Morrow; First Edition (January 1, 1990)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 542 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0688112048
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0688112042
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.45 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 154 ratings

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  1. Linda Schele

    Linda Schele

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
154 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Craig Matteson
5.0 out of 5 stars Superlative book on Mayan culture - fascinating read
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2003
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It is so sad that we have lost Linda Schele. But we can rejoice that we still have her wonderful books. This book is among her best. It is almost magical in the way she and David Freidel create the atmosphere of the Mayan culture. There are wonderful pictures and illustrations. She unfolds the stories of the archaeological discoveries and then helps us understand the real lives revealed in the evidence.

The book also shows how the Mayan glyphs and counting systems work. There are nowadays very good texts on the writing system itself, but this book shows us how the glyphs are woven into the culture and religion of these people. We learn how the lineage worked and how the monuments were used as what we would call propaganda to support one line over other possibilities. We learn about the role of magic and visions and the way the leaders were the empowered by those visions.

There is just so much here that any reader will be richly rewarded. The Mayan civilization is incredibly fascinating because it is so foreign to our own and yet it is a part of the heritage of the American continents.

This book isn't just a text, it is a work of art in itself. You will have a hard time putting it down.
100 people found this helpful
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kgw
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, detailed presentation with lots of illustrations and photos
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2022
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Linda Schele was a key archaeologist in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography. Her work and this book are gifts she left to the world. If you have any interest in human history and its records, this will delight and enlighten you.
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Roger Carrier
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Book Full of Translations of Maya Glyphs
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2008
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Note: It looks like I have offended some Mormons who don't want you to read this book. Nevertheless, science won't go away. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated

Schele and Freidel's book takes you into the mind of the ancient Maya, where bloodletting induced visions that opened doors into the world of pagan spirits and everyone had an animal "familiar."

The description of the "War of Conquest" of Tikal (tee-kal) against Uaactun (wa-shak-toon) is riviting. It is fascinating that we know the name of the general of Tikal, "Smoking-Frog." At other places, we now also know the names of the Maya leaders. "Ah Zacol...governed Lacanja for Knot-eye-Jaguar, the king of Bonampak." Other names are equally strange. I won't list the name of one king because Amazon's filter's would reject my review. Anyway, his name was "p-n-s of the jaguar."

I came to my interest in the Maya from my early encounters with Mormon authors who used specious scholarship to connect the Maya to the religious novel called the "Book of Mormon." Now that Maya writing has been deciphyered, all those false claims have been exposed. In many cases, the truth was known, but Mormon writers were engaging in the practice of lying for the Lord to promote their faith.

When the Spanish first saw Maya art, they misinterpreted it. They named one temple, for example, the "temple of the cross." The cross-like tree was seen as evidence that the Maya were Christians. Now we know that in the case of the temple of the "Foliated Cross" that the cross-bar of the cross is actually a maize plant with a "human head as an ear of maize." The maize plant is growing out of the "waterlily monster."

It was interesting to learn that the upright stone monuments, or stela, were known as "tree-stones" and the doorways into the temples were represented as the mouths of mountain monsters. The doorways are seen as caves into the mountain.

"Bloodletting, the focus ritual of Maya life, was the instrument" of the materialization of other-worldly beings.

The claims of Mormons and others that Stela B at Copan depicts elephant trunks was refuted even before the translation of the Maya glyphs. The trunks are actually the long beaks of macaws (you can see the colorful birds there today). The false claim is now doubly refuted because the writing on the stela refers to "macaw mountain," a nearby hill--not "elephant mountain."

Mormons are still claiming that there is a horse carved on the Temple of the Wall Panels at Chichen Itza. It is actually a damaged feathered-serpent (one feather hangs down to make the so-called horse's head). In reality, the Maya were so ignorant of horses that when Cortes left his lame horse among the Itza, they fed it meat.

The strange diet cause the horse to die and the Maya made a statue, calling it "Tzimin Chac," from the "Tzmin," meaning tapir (the animal most similar his general shape to a horse), and "Chac," the god of rain and thunder. When Father Urbita came to convert the Itza, he destroyed the idol at great risk to his life.

The Book of Mormon connection to ancient mesoamerica is without foundation. As you go back in time, the paganism only increases. There was no Hebrew civilization in mesoamerica.

This 500-page book belongs on the shelf on anyone interested in the mind of the ancient Maya.
33 people found this helpful
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Cimarron
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2010
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This book is now a little old, but I think still very useful. It helps give an idea of the daily life of the elites and ordinary citizens during the preclassic and classic periods of the Mayan temple building era. It helps explain the purpose, meaning and role of the baroque imagery the Mayans used in their bas relief sculptures in their temples, tieing it in with the religious imagery expressed in the key book available to us the Popul Vuh. It is a great tool for someone who wishes to begin to understand the otherwise overwhelmingly complex Mayan spiritual life and style of artistic expression. The two are inextricably linked. They examine specific sites where the authors have worked, and help understand the concepts the builders had in constructing these sites. This is immensely helpful. Sometimes I feel a little nervous as they authors fill in gaps in the historical narrative on what appears to be shaky evidentiary ground. This is shortcoming that Nassim Taleb refers to as the narrative fallacy. It is an important problem and a mistake that we all commit. It will lead us astray. However, if you mentally mark those segments and discard their validity as unsubstantiated by the authors, the rest more than compensates.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Comprador
5.0 out of 5 stars Contenido
Reviewed in Mexico on March 13, 2024
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Tony Rowlands
5.0 out of 5 stars New revelations about the Maya
Reviewed in Australia on October 23, 2020
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This is wonderful . The understanding of Maya cultural and religious practice has advanced so much and there is much revealed in this wonderful book .
I enjoyed every minute of my reading , couldn't put it down .
I do hope it's followed up in a few years with new discoveries about this extraordinary civilization .
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D. Njoku
5.0 out of 5 stars Some surprising revelations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2015
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Rather interesting history that added to my knowledge.
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Steve Hammond
3.0 out of 5 stars Dated and biased but still interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2019
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This book was published in 1993, as you might imagine some key arguments in this book are now very dated. If you are totally new to the Maya then this book will be quite a misleading read and you'd be better off reading "The Maya" by Stephen Houston and Micheal Coe even though it is a lot more dry to read.

Positives and Negatives:

The problem is, there is still lots to learn from this book, especially on the theme of Maya religion and the role of the Divine kings. The book follows the monuments left by select Ahauob (kings) of Maya city states including Palenque, Tikal and Copan. The descriptions of the monuments are extremely detailed which for the most part is very interesting though it can border on the pedantic at times. Now and then there are narratives written as though from a Maya person's perspective which are fun and interesting reads though felt highly speculative at times.

That is the main problem with this book, its age and also the bias of its authors, its hard to know what is still relevant and what is now discounted and biased. Traditionally "Mayanists" have been very against the idea of foreign entities invading or even influencing Maya Civilisation but today we know that they were heavily influenced.

The classic Maya were invaded and influenced by the Mexican city known as Teotihuacan with its generals usurping native Maya dynasties (like at Tikal). Friedel and Schele gall at the idea of the Maya actually being impressed by central Mexicans when this was clearly the case with Teotihuacan though they at least acknowledge that the Maya learned "Venus star wars" from them.

They also go out of their way to deny any Toltec involvement at Chichen Itza, even going so far as to suggest that the Maya inspired the Toltec art and architecture in central Mexico when it is very clear that the Maya of the Post classic Yucatan were invaded by a Branch of Toltec who introduced Mexican gods, art and concepts to the late Maya world. Not to mention the Puuc Maya who were heavily influenced by central mexico and the Itza who they wrongly identify as the Toltec invaders despite the Itza coming after Toltec Chichen Itza failed (where it then became known AS Chichen Itza; Well of the Itza)

As mentioned there are some really interesting concepts explained that seem to still be relevant as well as the exploits of Maya Kings, there are just too many times where the authors are simply wrong which is not something you want from a history book.
2 people found this helpful
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Robin Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2014
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