A review of a book of essays by Gordon R. Wiley

What is it about?

This book is a collection of Gordon R. Wiley's synthetic essays about the ancient Maya. Published originally between 1973 and 1986. most are Willey's syntheses from the School of American Research Seminars on Maya Archaeology that occurred between 1970 and 1982 (the Maya Collapse [1970], the rise of Maya civilization [1974], pre-Hispanic Agriculture [1977], Lowland Maya settlement patterns [1977] and the Maya post-Classic [1982]). Two other previously published essays complete the book: "Toward an Holistic view of Ancient Maya Civilization" and "Changing Conceptions of Lowland Maya Culture History."

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Why is it important?

Wiley was a great synthesizer of New World archaeological research, and this volume provides a distillation of some of his thinking and synthesis about various topics of Maya civilization.