No comments about Handbook for Teaching English in Mexico and Central America.

4 comments about Warriors of the Clouds: A Lost Civilization in the Upper Amazon of Peru.

1. I was looking for information on Machu Picchu, when I came across this gem. The cover stirred up fantasies of Shangrila. I was intrigued, ordered it, and was delighted.This is a photographic exploration of Kuelap, a mysterious citadel in the high Andes, discovered seventy years before Machu Picchu. The Chachapoya, or Cloud People (understandably so-called) were the inahabitants of this remote and inaccessible area.Keith Muscutt has provided a detailed and interesting text to accompany this visual feast. He photographs the present inhabitants of the region, supposedly the ancestors of the builders of Kuelap. Perhaps or perhaps not, but interesting anyway.The photographs of tombs built vertically in the cliff side are indescribable. All in all I highly recommend this, whether the interest is information or pleasure. Both are to be found in these pages. Thorough and interesting and visually beautiful.



2. One of the world's greatest civilizations was the Incan civilization. The Incas settled in Western South America, along the Andes range. This civilization was very similar to the Great Aztec Civilization. The Incas had adapted to their environment. They built terrraces and were skillful builders. Find out how the Great civilization adapted to their environment and how they were conquered by Pizarro's trickery...



3. 
   The Chachapoya, or Cloud People, created a complex civilization in the upper Amazon of northern Peru in the terrain separating the Marañon and Huallaga basins. Keith Muscutt spent over 20 years studying the civilization. His book is a treasure of careful and vivid writing, enhanced by wonderful photographs of a breathtaking landscape.
   
   The Chachapoya were conquered by the Inca around A.D. 1475, and shortly thereafter were decimated by Spanish colonial rule. Pedro Cieza de León described the Chachapoyas: "They are the whitest and most handsome of all the people that I have seen in Indies, and their wives were so beautiful that because of their gentleness, many of them deserved to be the Incas' wives and to also be taken to the Sun Temple .... The women and their husbands always dressed in woolen clothes and in their heads they wear their llautos, which are a sign they wear to be known everywhere."
   
   Descendants of these people still live in the region amid the ruins. Muscutt offers splendid color plates of cliff-side tombs mixed with photographs of modern-day village life. His photos also capture the forest-choked valleys, high-altitude lakes, and orchid-studded vegetation.
   
   Vincent Lee's maps of of Vira Vira are excellent. The bibliography, compiled by Douglas Sharon and Muscutt, is first rate. Muscatt traces some of the life of Benigno Añazco, who spent 36 years deep in the Andean forest, founded 14 settlements, abandoned his wife and many children, married one of his daughters, killed his son-in-law, fought drug peddlers, and sought to re-establish the Inca Empire.
   
   According to chachapoyas.com , a website devoted to this book, Keith Muscutt is Assistant Dean of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A native of England, he has traveled widely in the United States, Mexico, and Peru, photographing and writing articles about rock art and pre-Columbian remains. He is the founder of the Fundación Benéfica Niños de Chuquibamba, which promotes the health and education of children in the remote Andean village shown on the cover of this book.
   
   Although the book is ten years old, nothing seems to have supplanted it for a student of the Chachapoyas.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



4. This was an extremely well researched and fascinating book to read. Having been to Machu Picchu myself I was totally absorbed in this other ancient Peruvian culture. A must read for all archaelogy enthusiasts!

No comments about Historic Photos of Albuquerque (Historic Photos.) (Historic Photos.).

No comments about Postcards from Mexico (Postcards from).

1 comments about Moon Handbooks: Puerto Vallarta 4 Ed: Including 300 Miles of Coastal Coverage and Sidetrips to Guadelajara and Lake Chapala.

1. Book was slightly used, but still in good shape. It was nice it was used because the stuff I needed to review was already highlighted.

4 comments about Trailing Louis L'Amour in New Mexico (Trailing Louis L'Amour).

1. As the author I am pleased with this book...I hope others are. Amizon also sell TRAILING LOUIS L'AMOUR IN NEW MEXICO and my first novel VENTURES WEST. Bertram (Bert} Murphy



2. Louis L'Amour has a vast multitude of readers around the world-but only one like Bert Murphy.

   What the New Mexican author has done in this book, and the companion title ( Trailing Louis L'Amour from California to Alaska), is to help put into historical and geographical perspective the L'Amour novels.

   Thus, this first book, that looks at the 7 novels set in New Mexico reveals that Murphy, has not only read the novels, but has poured over them- exploring and contextualising them for others. If you want to be part of Killoe's Cattle Trail, Conagher's Stage Line, Flint's Malpais, Shalako's War Path, Daybreakers Trek, Radigans Sierra Trails, or participate in a Showdown at Yellow Butte then Murphy is the best side-kick you will find and the above chapters in his book detail the well known LL stories.

   If you plan to read, or have read any of the LL novels set in NM, and you like having additional information on the time and area, then this book is a must. Good maps also assist the reader to chart the area involved in the particular stories and plenty of large black and white photos give a 'feel' for the terrain. There are times when I feel that the book could have been tightened by a some better sub-editing (eg on p101, within the space of some 13 lines, we are told, twice, that Chato, an Apache war chief, lived from 1854-1934). However this book is a 'ramble' and such finer points do not lessen the interest of what Murphy has to tell us about his home state.

   There is a lot of a L'Amour character about Bert Murphy-he has lived and worked around many states of his homeland, seen active service in two major conflicts, and climbed through the ranks finishing as a Major-General and Asst. Adjutant General of New Mexico. He has also been a pilot, engineer, oilfield well puller and roughneck, rancher, scuba diver, deputy sheriff, writer etc. In short, an interesting hombre......remind you of anyone?

   New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment and Bert Murphy has done his best to take us on a trail of enchantment in looking at some of the works of the great western novelist, Louis L'Amour

   FOOTNOTE: Murphy has also chanced his arm with a 'fictional'(?) hero, James Houston Slack (in 'Ventures West') - a story about the development of tough fighting man, from teenage orphan.




3. Don't wast your money on this book. I couldn't make it past the second chapter, the disjointed irrelevant writing is horrible. Every other paragraph is about some different subject, and most have nothing to do with Trailing Louis L'Amour. There are many misspelled words, and some locations are completely mis named. The author calls the San Jacinto Mountians the "San Joquain" Mountians, and Panamint Valley "Panama Valley." He comments on L'Amour's detailed research, yet it is obvious he didn't spend much time on research himself.



4. Bert's done it again with this detailed account of tracking L'Amour and his characters across the northwest from California to Alaska. Bert has been there and done that and he makes the geography and time of the novels come into focus with his insight and knowledge of the locations and history of the areas.

5 comments about An Archaeological Guide to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

1. Interested in going to the Yucatan and seeing some of those incredible Mayan jungle ruins? You must have this book beforehand. Rating each of the sites with 4 stars for the most interesting down to one star, you get great background information as well as a really good map of the site, what are it's most interesting features, and how much time you might want to spend there. The information is very detailed, archaeological in viewpoint, but usable and interesting for tourist types. Use this in conjuction with more current roadmap information for trip planning as the roads are always changing, but the 900 year old Pyramid of the Magician isn't going anywhere. I did not take this with me on my trip, but had gotten so much information from it that when we arrived at the sites in the morning, I already knew the site layout and which way to start so as to have the best sun for photographs.
   Even the smaller 1 & 2 star sites are worth seeing if they are near your travel path, and this book does a great job on those sites which you will not find in the tourist books. This is the only book I found that gives the pronouciation for the names of the sites in Mayan, even now I occasionally surf through the book for fun. Not a typical travel book, but well written and interesting.



2. Having spent the better part of a month touring archeological sites in the Yucatan this summer (1998) attempting to use this book as a guide, it became apparent that the book covers very little of the southeast Yucatan penninsula (which should include Belize, but doesn't) and the recently opened ruins at Dzibanche and Kinichna (1996). These are some important areas well worth a look, but are not covered. Also Mayapan differed significantly from the description in the book owing to some fairly recent work there. The descriptions are rather dry and would benefit from more historical and anthropological information.



3. This is a worthy and thoroughly researched book, but it has a number of weaknesses as a practical field guide. It is too large to fit in a pocket, making it inconvenient to carry when stumbling about in the humid mosquito-ridden Mayan jungle. The maps are not particularly good, and the text tends to offer little more than a description of what one can see with one's own eyes. What is needed is more explanation and less exposition, if one is to understand the significance of Mayan carvings and architecture. The introduction offers some insight into the meaning of such things, but not much. What, for instance, is the significance of the ever-present Mayan ball courts? What was the nature of the game being played? This book does not offer the answers, or at least not readily. The reader is expected to have a level of understanding and knowledge which makes it effectively unsuitable for the novice. At the larger sites such as Chichen-Itza I found (bizarrely) that the budget guide "Let's Go Mexico" was actually more informative than this volume. In addition, the rapid rate of depredation of Mayan sites (jungle growth, souvenir-hunters etc) means that the book definitely shows its age. I found some of the descriptions barely recognisable today (December 1998).



4. I think the book is wonderful. Having written that, what the other readers said of its failings are true, and it should not be taken literally when planning a trip. To show an example, a friend of mine did not realize that there is now a paved road to Calakmul and did not go there.

   The book also failed to mention that there was a hotel at the time of publication, the Mirador Maya. Now there is another, the Calakmul. Both are basic, but the area is not the wasteland one would expect from guide books.




5. I have enjoyed this book and have used it on several trips to the Yucatan, but I must agree about the shortcomings mentioned by other reviewers. I consider the book a classic--at the time it was written, it provided much needed and hard-to-find information--which today is much more readily available in guidebooks. I find the book most useful in trip planning--especially in highlighting interesting, lesser-known sites to visit. (Also, do not overlook the excellent inexpensive pamphlets on various sites sold at the Anthropology Museum in Merida, as well as the free Yucatan Today guide which can be obtained at the Tourist Information Center in the Teatro Peon Contreras.)

2 comments about Santa Fe in a Week: More or Less.

1. I love this book. It is so helpful and chock full of information.
   Now that I have a computer I really appreciate all the email addresses.
   The writting is clear and full of information and the photos are really nice and also helpful. This book will make my next trip to Santa Fe more enjoyable and easy to plan.



2. When I first received this book I was dismayed because it included alot of web links. However, after I started reading it I realized it was really a very good condensed book chock full of information and one doesn't have to go to the links in order to enjoy this book. We're going to Santa Fe for one week and this book has been a great help in narrowing down exactly where we want to go and what we want to do. I highly recommend it.

No comments about Return to Taos: Eric Sloane's Sketchbook of Roadside Americana.

No comments about The Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a Relation of the Great and Golden City of Manoa.