I haven't gone through one of these National Geographic Society books in a while, and I must admit, they are a treat, both for the quality of the photography and the "no B.S." writing style ... add to that a groovy map, and what's not to like? While not exactly an in-depth (most chapters had 3-4 pages of "over-view" text then "highlights" for various things being discussed) survey, the Stuarts' (a father-and-son writing team) Lost Kingdoms of the Maya is quite a charming historical narrative of the Mayan people, from the earliest emergence to current cultures in Guatamala, Belize, and the Yucatan.
The downside to this early-90's edition is that the National Geographic Society didn't seem to feel that they needed to put an ISBN on it, and I've seen versions of this listing some pretty funky publishing entities (from "American Society of Civil Engineers" to MapQuest!), plus the waters seem to be muddied with a video presentation of the same name that came out some time later ... but, hey, that's between me and LibraryThing, and shouldn't bother my intrepid readers in the least.
Anyway, this is a nice big coffee-table book (9.5x11") with lots of pretty pictures of very cool ruin sites and archaeological bric-a-brak from them, etc., which is well worth reading for an over-view of the Mayan culture. And, lucky you, there are copies for under a buck via Amazon's new/used vendors ... such a deal! This cost $35.00 new, and with shipping you could have it for under $5.00 (and one of the vendors even still has the groovy National Geographic map with it!) ... I'd be all over that deal if, well, I didn't obviously already have the book.
