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The advantage of this book is that it does not try to submit its message to the reader in didactical terms. Instead, the photos and the accompanying essays elegantly unfold a series of descriptions, episodes and profound insights that together make it possible for the reader to grasp what Mayan life is like today, and how it evolved from the 1960's and 30 years ahead.
The "photo-essay" chosen by Everton as the form of presentation, is a brilliant choice. Everton, author and photographer, lets the reader see a series of facets of Mayan everyday life from the point of view of individual Mayan friends of Everton. The solidarity and love with which Everton shows us scenes from Mayan everyday life does not undermine the books credibility. All general conclusions are based on individual examples. The care for precision in details and the interest taken in describing the common episodes and daily chores of Mayan peasant life make it possible for us to get close to Everton's friends. I have not come across any other book that equals Evertons work in this respect.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of the book is the way it reveals to the reader how the book came to be. Already the ntroductory chapters pose the problem, how we should think about the concept of Mayan culture. It discusses how Mayas are usually portrayed in the Western world, and it contemplates how this idea can be refined.
Some 20 Mayan peoples of today are the descendants of the ancient Mayas who built the famous pyramid temples. But we must consider that the Mayas have a present and a future as well as a past. Otherwize, we will not be able to understand the dynamics of contemporary Mayan life, says the book. In this respect, the ever changing Mayan culture is just like any other human culture in history.
Everton's photo essays form a persuading defense of the value of what is called the "cultural diversity" of the world.
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The map next to Everton's preface showed not only the places where the images were taken but confirmed the warning that American wilderness is an endangered specie. The rest of the writings is simply an eloquent elaboration of this urgent issue. This book is another quality publication from Abrams Inc. I give it four out of five stars.
You could visit these sites for twenty years and not see actual scenes as luscious as these. Whether you know the West or think you would like to, I suggest that you start with this remarkable book. This is the West as you've never seen it . . . but could. The wonderful photography is nicely complemented by the essays that provide geological and historical perspectives on the scenes portrayed here.
The photography is all done in 148 or 150 degree large format color panoramas. This perspective approximates what the human eyes can see, including peripheral vision. As a result, these images give you a remarkable sense of being present that is almost impossible to obtain in a book.
The reproduction quality is amazingly good, and the lighting and tones vary wonderfully from one outstanding photograph to the next. Almost all are displayed over an entire wide panorama-sized page, and many extend over parts of two such pages.
The feeling is so ethereal that it evokes the same sense of natural wonder that looking at paintings by the Hudson River School creates. There are in fact some parallels, as a few scenes include tiny people or animals in the foreground.
The book is divided into sections showing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, the Cascade range, the Pacific Northwest, and California. Although I have traveled extensively in the West for over 40 years, more than half of these scenes were new to me. I can see that I have many wonderful trips ahead of me to visit these locales, now that I know how gorgeous they are.
Here is a list of the sites:
Sand Hills, Nebraska
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Montana Prairie
Breaks of the Missouri
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Waterton/Glacier International Peace Park, Montana
Lemhi Pass, Montana
Mores Creek, Idaho
Aspen, Colorado
Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Grand Staircase -- Escalante National Monument, Utah
Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Monument Valley Tribal Park, Arizona/Utah
Wupatki National National Monument, Arizona
Mount St. Helens
Crater Lake, Oregon
Mount Shasta, California
Oregon Coast
Big Sur, California
Santa Catalina, California
Yosemite, California
Mono Lake, California
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Death Valley, California
The text connects these boundless images to "a West of unlimited horizons" and the work of Turner in developing his frontier theory of the role of the West in stimulating American imagination and initiative. Even today, the book argues that the "unconstrained Western horizon" is important to our sense of taking on the new challenges of modern society.
Everyone who sees these photographs will agree that it would be horrible if these sights were ever to be spoiled. We are fortunate that government policy began to preserve these lands beginning in the 19th century. With today's challenges of pollution and visitors, perhaps even more will have to be done.
Reading and looking at this book is a spiritual journey, not unlike a peaceful meditation. If your spirit is troubled at all, I suggest this book as a balm that you can always use to ease your discomfort.
Live with beauty!
Everton also captures locations that have already been widely photographed before, but with his own signature. He adds a new face to Calf Creek Falls in Utah. A must have book for your table.
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The book seems to describe the authors' discovery and fleshing-out of a new theory about how the Maya interpreted the stars. Apparently their creation story was all written up in the sky and, as the stars and planets moved, episodes in the creation were cyclically reinacted. This is not described very straight-forwardly, though, and I'm still not sure if I've got it right.
There is an attempt to make the whole thing read like a mystery novel, sort of a la "Celestine Prophesy": the book starts out describing the eager young scientists mixing with the wise tribals in an ancient ceremony. Later, for several chapters, one of the authors is quoted at length about how she discovered some commonality amongst various artifacts and codices which backed up some hypothesis, and which I entirely lost sight of by the end. She kept calling up friends and friends kept calling her up until I thought I was watching a Gidget movie. All the authors come off a little too New-Age loopy for me, adding lots of little asides praising the aboriginal and putting down the modern, and talking about how their life has been changed by their discoveries. But then, my confusion with all that Jaguar-3-Peccary-Holy-Twins-Tree-of-Life stuff may have made me just a bit grouchy.
At any rate, my point is, all the reviews on this page (except the very good Kirkus one) make the book sound like an easy read, which it isn't. It's a delineation of a hypothesis with some adventure stuff thrown in for better surface marketability. The result is, to me, confusing. Granted, it's not an easy subject, but that makes clear writing all the more important, especially if you're writing for mass consumption. Better to start out with one of Michael Coe's books and go from there.
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