Reading suggestions
- Guatemala. Lonely Planet.
- Belize, Guatemala & Yucatan: La Ruta Maya. Lonely Planet.
- I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Edited by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, translated by Ann Wright.This book recounts the remarkable life of Rigoberta Menchu, a young indigenous Guatemalan woman. Her story reflects the experiences common to many indigenous communities in Latin America. Rigoberta suffered gross injustice and hardship in her early life: her brother, father and mother were murdered by the Guatemalan military. The book also records unique details of everyday Mayan life, and the religious and superstitious beliefs of her community and her personal response to feminist and socialist ideas.
- Time Among the Maya. Ronald Wright.The author travels through jungles and mountains to explore the ancient roots of the Maya, their recent troubles, and prospects for survival. Rich with historical insight and cultural observation, this is a riveting and unforgettable journey through the past magnificence of an ancient people and the present danger they face in seeking a place in the modern world.
- The Heart of the Sky: Travels Among the Maya. Peter Canby.Peter Canby learned during two years of on-the-spot travel and research, that more than seven million Maya are living throughout Central America today. Seeking to understand the secrets of Mayas’ survival, Canby discovers their genius at remaining virtually undetected by the outside world. However, with the arrival of modern warfare and proselytizing missionaries to the region, he shows that this invisibility has ended in our generation.
- Sweet Waist of America. Anthony Daniels.A book about the author’s travels, in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
- The Mayan Prophecies. Andrew Gilvert and Maurice Cotterell.Lost in the jungles of Central America are the remains of a most mysterious people, the Maya. Who are they? Where did they come from? What message, if any did they leave for our own times? These are some of the questions that have taxed explorers, scholars and writers for over 200 years…and in this revelatory and extraordinary book it is shown that we are standing on the threshold of a new world age.
- Bird of Life, Bird of Death; a Naturalists Journey through a land of political turmoil. Jonathan Maslow.Tells of the author’s travels in Guatemala, where he went to see the resplendent quetzal (bird of life). He found the quetzal was becoming increasingly endangered while the zopilote (vulture), the ‘bird of death’, was flourishing.
- Antigua Guatemala: the City and its Heritage. Elizabeth Bell.The author has been a resident of Antigua for thirty years. With an emphasis on cultural tourism, she conducts tours around Antigua, has developed slide presentations about the city, and is an active supporter of the restoration efforts of the Colonial Art Museum. This book endeavours to give the reader a deeper appreciation of the city’s rich heritage. Only available in Antigua.
- The Blood of Guatemala; A History of Race and Nation. Greg Grandin.Over the second half of the twentieth century the Guatemalan state slaughtered more than two hundred thousand of its citizens. In the wake of this violence a vibrant pan-Mayan movement has emerged to challenge Ladino (non-indigenous) notions of citizenship and national identity. Focusing on Mayan elites in the community of Quetzaltenango, Paul Grandin shows how their efforts to maintain authority and secure power over the indigenous population played a crucial role in the formation of the Guatemalan nation.
