THE BOOK OF THE JAGUAR PRIEST

by Maud Worcester-Ed. & Transl. Makemson ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Scholar, scientist, linguist, Professor Makemson in this extraordinary document has embarked on a role only indirectly connected with her work as head of the astronomy department at Vassar. For she has rescued out of the distant past the record kept secretly by leaders of the conquered Mayans in Yucatan so that their children should know something of the learning of the old Mayans, prophecies, fragments of history, myths and legends, religious ceremonies, and so on. The present translation of the Book of Chilam Batam of Tisimin (to give it full title) was made from a microfilm obtained from a photostatic copy in the possession of the University of Pennsylvania. From ancient Mayan, it was translated into Spanish, thence into English. And a significant document emerges, an inside story of a hidden life under Spanish oppressors, covering over two centuries and written, in all probability, by various people under one covering identity. Not a book for the casual reader, but for anthropologists, ethnologists, students of Yucatan and the Mayan culture. Important- in a limited field.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Henry Schuman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951

Categories: NONFICTION