Jungle of Stone The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens Frederick Catherwood,

Zusatztext "If you're hankering for a good adventure! there is no better book this spring. ? This account reads like an adventure novel! but it has the added benefit of being completely true. Armchair explorers! history buffs! and anyone who loves a good journey: Don't miss this book." Informationen zum Autor William Carlsen was a reporter for two decades at the San Francisco Chronicle ! where he was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. He has also worked for the New York Times and taught journalism at the University of California! Berkeley. He and his wife lived for many years in Antigua! Guatemala; they currently reside in Sonoma County! California. Klappentext In 1839! rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world’s most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports! American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood—both already celebrated for their adventures in Egypt! the Holy Land! Greece! and Rome—sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras! Guatemala! and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West’s understanding of human history. In the tradition of Lost City of Z and In the Kingdom of Ice ! former San Francisco Chronicle journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist William Carlsen reveals the extraordinary story of the discovery of the ancient Maya. Enduring disease! war! and the torments of nature and terrain! Stephens and Catherwood meticulously uncovered and documented the remains of an astonishing civilization that had flourished in the Americas at the same time as classic Greece and Rome—and had been its rival in art! architecture! and power. Their remarkable book about the experience! written by Stephens and illustrated by Catherwood! became a sensation! hailed by Edgar Allan Poe as “perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published” and recognized today as the birth of American archaeology. Most important! Stephens and Catherwood were the first to grasp the significance of the Mayan remains! understanding that their antiquity and sophistication overturned the West’s assumptions about the development of civilization. By the time of the flowering of classical Greece (400 b.c.)! the Maya were already constructing pyramids and temples around central plazas. Within a few hundred years the structures took on a monumental scale that required millions of man-hours of labor! and technical and organizational expertise. Over the next millennium! dozens of city-states evolved! each governed by powerful lords! some with populations larger than any city in Europe at the time! and connected by road-like causeways of crushed stone. The Maya developed a cohesive! unified cosmology! an array of common gods! a creation story! and a shared artistic and architectural vision. They created stucco and stone monuments and bas reliefs! sculpting figures and hieroglyphs with refined artistic skill. At their peak! an estimated ten million people occupied the Maya’s heartland on the Yucatan Peninsula! a region where only half a million now live. And yet by the time the Spanish reached the “New World!” the Maya had all but disappeared; they would remain a mystery for the next three hundred years. Today! the tables are turned: the Maya are justly famous! if sometimes misunderstood! while Stephens and Catherwood have been all but forgotten. Based on Carlsen’s rigorous  research and his own 2!500-mile journey throughout the Yucatan and Central America! Jungle of Stone is equally a thrilling adventure narrative and a revelatory work of history that corrects our understanding of Stephens! Catherwood! and the Maya themselves. “Thrilling. . . . A captivating history.”— Kirkus Reviews (Starred) Zu...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: William Carlsen, Carlsen William
• Editore: Harper Collins Uk
• Contenuto: Libro
• Forma del prodotto: Copertina rigida
• Data pubblicazione: 31.03.2016
• Categoria: Scienze umane, arte, musica > Storia; Scienze naturali, medicina, informatica, tecnica > Geoscienze > Geografia; Saggistica > Storia > Biografie, autobiografie
• EAN: 9780062407399
• ISBN: 978-0-06-240739-9
• Numero di pagine: 544
• Categorie: Expedition, Maya, Mexico, Yucatan, Inca, world history, Tulum, Palenque, Adventure Travel, Pyramid, Uxmal, Stone, Chichen Itza, Archaeology, Ancient World, Social and cultural history, Ancient History, Rainforest, Lost Cities, Mayas, The Americas, Frederick Catherwood, Travel and holiday, Latin American History, Biography: historical, political and military, Adventurers & Explorers, Civilization, Biography: adventurers and explorers, Central America, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico and Central America, HISTORY: WORLD, HISTORY: Civilization, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Historical, HISTORY: Latin America / Mexico, HISTORY: Latin America / Central America, HISTORY: Modern / 19th Century, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Adventurers & Explorers, HISTORY: Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies), ARCHEOLOGY: GENERAL, TRAVEL: Mexico, historical narrative, Mayan, travel narrative, Mayan history, human history, mayans, Aztec, Archeology / General, Ancient Civilization, adventure books, Lost Civilization, History textbook, books about explorers, books for history lovers, books about history, Historical nonfiction, 1800s, early American history, mayan mythology, Maya civilization, books by journalists, pulitzer prize finalist, Mayan calendar, Maya culture, accessible history, archaeological discovery, Copan, Maya history, central american jungles, American explorer, true story of maya discovery, maya ruins, discovery story, history of maya civilization book, ancient central america, history of american archaeology, history of yucatan peninsula, central America history, adventurers & explorersmaya, Adventure tale, maya remains, maya temple, mayan ruins, Mayan civilization, Mayan temple, books for travelers, Adventure narrative, history of honduras, guide to maya, guide to mayan ruins, maya pyramids, books for armchair explorers, biography of william carlsen, John Lloyd Stephens, mayan cities, stephens and catherwood, ancient mayan art, catherwood-stephens expedition, william carlsen, maya civilization discovery story, mayan stela, archaeology history, john l. stephens, central american history, jungle of stone, mayan calender, yucatan travelogue, jungle city, biography of john lloyd stephens, Lost History, mayan pyramid, history civilization, books about exploration, incidents in travel in yucatan