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Title: Aztec, Inca, and Maya (DK Eyewitness Books)
ISBN: 0756613833
Author:
Laura Buller
Elizabeth Baquedano
Publicate Date: 2005-09-05
Publish: 2005-09-05
List Price: $15.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.18
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $10.21
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.87
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Another solid entry in the Eyewitness Books series
This is another excellent entry in the Eyewitness Books series, for young readers. The illustrations, as always, are wonderful. The slick pages speak to a quality production. The text is written well and conveys information accessible to the series' audience.
The volume begins with an historical perspective on the three civilizations--Aztec, Maya, and Inca. After that, as with other volumes in the series that focus on civilizations, we read of the everyday life and context of the people being examined. What topics are considered? Farming, hunting/fishing, cities, family and home life, food and drink, religion, medicine, literacy and numbers, clothes, the arts, and so on. All discussions provide enough detail to give young readers a pretty good sense of each society.
This particular work ends with the Spanish conquest of the New World and, with it, the end of these three impressive societies.
So, to summarize. . . . A strong entry in the series of Eyewitness Books. Young readers interested in these early civilizations will enjoy this work.
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2: Eyewitness Books are a Great Help in the Classroom!
I am an ESOL teacher who has to teach about a variety of topics daily. I am currently teaching about Native Americans and this book helped quite a bit with teaching about Maya, Aztecs and the Inca. The topic is so absorbing, I'm having trouble fitting the North Americans in! The pictures and articfacts are very interesting and I thought well presented. I think we have mostly small items related to these civilizations so it is hard to see how Eyewitness could have differentiated them more. I could be wrong but think this book was really helpful to my students. They have little concept of these cultures as all come from Asia. It's fun and not as boring as they thought.
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3: geared more towards really young or really simple
this book said it was okay for middle school kids and i found it to be a little too childish even for that. some good information, but would have liked more of it.
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4: Aztec, Inca, and Maya (DK Eyewitness Books)
I am an adult who found the book a quick and easy way to be introduced to a subject I did not know much about. I am using it to discuss Mexican artists during student and adult tours at my local art museum.
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5: The artifacts of the great civilizations of Mesoamerica and the Andes
My assumption is that a DK Eyewitness Book entitled "Aztec, Inca & Maya" would devote sections to each of the three great civilizations that Spanish explorers encountered and eradicated in the 16th century. The Aztec empire stretched between the Pacific and the Atlantic costs of Mesoamerica, the Maya kingdom was found in the eastern part of Mesoamerica, and the Inca Empire stretched 4,000 miles along the western coast of South America. But this book considers the people of these regions to be a mosaic of tribes and nations so that most of the chapters are topical, talking about food and drink, religious life, masks, and such in terms of all of the cultures that apply. There are a few specific chapters devoted to the Incas and their ancestors and Cities of the Andes, but most toss in everything together.
I have to admit, I do not find this approach to work anymore than one about Mediterranean cultures that lumps Spain, Italy and Greece together with the likes of Portugal, Sicily, and Crete thrown in for good measure. In this volume the Olmecs, Teotihuacans, and Toltecs are thrown in for good measure, but not so that you can have anything close to a clear conception of the specific cultures. There are some topics where it makes sense to talk about multiple cultures, such as the Human sacrifice by the Incas and Aztecs, but that does not apply to all of these topics. Consequently, I am tempted to get different colored highlighters and color code the three main cultures throughout the book so it is easier to make the connections.
As always, the chief attraction of this Eyewitness Book is that it is filled with photographs of artifacts from museums around the world, from the Archaeological Museum in Lima the National Palace in Mexico City to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence and the Rietberg Museum in Zurich (a subtle reminder that a lot of New World treasures made their way to Europe). Most of us will never get to see a Toltec coyote warrior inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the Gateway of the Sun at Tiahuanaco, or a "teponaztli" (horizontal drum) in person. "The Los Angeles Times Book Review" called one of these volumes "Like a mini-museum between the covers of a book," which is so on point that DK always puts that quote on the back. Almost as important, Elizabeth Bauedano provides detailed captions for the illustrations so that you know what you are looking at and what it means. Consequently "Aztec, Inca & Maya" works better as a supplemental source than as an introduction to these fascinating civilizations.
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