Breaking the Maya Code

London England: Penguin, 1994. Paperback. Couple of slight creases to cover. Over twenty years ago, no one could read the hieroglyphic texts carved on the magnificent Maya temples and palaces; today, we can understand about 85 per cent of them. The pioneering discoveries of Yuri Knorosov, a brillian Russian linguist who had never set foot in the Americas, marked a decisive breakthrough. He was fiercely opposed by the red-baiting English expert, Eric Thompson, and scholars who saw the Maya as simple peace-loving stargazers incapable of inventing a phonetic writing system. Yet later researchers have transformed the inscriptions into historical docuements, revealing a culture obsessed with warfare, dynastic rivalries and ritual blood0letting. In this fascinating story of code cracking and factional fighting, the author explores the rocky road to what we know; he also provides a vivid and up-to-date picture of the Maya civilization. Illustrated. 288 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions ,and all types of Academic Literature.) . 1st Penguin Edition. Soft Cover. Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Paperback.