Prehistoric Mesoamerica

Adams is highly advanced on the Ancient Americas. A book of astounding depth and detail. Huge references list. Highly readable despite its academic cred.

This revised edition is indeed a great book. Well written. Loaded with facts and interpretations but not overloaded. It reads really nicely, and furthermore, it can be read by sections if one wishes so, though it would be a pity. Some minor editing problems (e.g. some numbers seem unbelievable and are likely typos). Enough illustrations to rest the eyes of the reader, and adequate maps. But for this reviewer the best feature of this book is that the author tries to integrate the history of successive cultures of Mesoamerica. For example, if you want to know what happened to the post classic Mayas you will need to go to another chapter than the main one on Mayas. This way the mutual influences of cultures can be better understood, at least when those influences did take place. Very likely the best all around book on Mesoamerica that one could have on the bookshelves. My only grip is the title, slightly misleading since it suggests prehistory. If history is defined as from the time when a cultures can write its history, then what about the Mayas who had a complete writing system? Not very "politically correct" if you ask this reviewer.