The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Americas
Jim Green, Fiona Macdonald, Philip Steele, and Michael Stotter
Southwater
Nonfiction, YA History
***+
DESCRIPTION: From the frozen Arctic tundra to the lush jungles of the Amazon, the Americas have a rich and varied history, often overlooked in this European-dominated modern society. This large book examines many of the New World's cultures, their traditions and everyday lifestyles, with many illustrations and art projects you can make yourself.
REVIEW: I found this one at Half Price Books, and certainly got that much out of it. For a book aimed at young people, this is a fairly good volume, covering often- overlooked cultures about which much has been lost or deliberately destroyed. Much of the information in this is new to me, and it is presented in a manner that, while shallow and jumpy, was easy to absorb. Personally, I wanted more actual information and less of the dippy arts and crafts, but I suppose that's what I get for buying a Young Adult encyclopedia. This is a good way to introduce New World cultures to kids, not to mention adults who haven't read too much on them (as most of the grown-up stuff is rather dry and heavy reading), but still find them fascinating.
You might also enjoy:
The X-Files: Ruins (Kevin J. Anderson, Fiction - Two FBI agents search for missing American archaeologists in the heart of the jungle)
The Jaguar Princess (Clare Bell, Fiction - A slave girl in Aztec times displays strange shapeshifting abilities)
Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends (Margot Edmonds & Ella E. Clark, Nonfiction - A collection of legends from many tribes)
Cat-a-Lyst (Alan Dean Foster, Fiction - A B-grade actor on vacation with his cat stumbles across a portal to a modern-day Incan empire)
The Encyclopedia of Mysterious Places (Robert Ingpen and Philip Wilkinson, Nonfiction - Archaeological wonders from around the world)
The Maya: Life, Myth, and Art (Timothy Laughton, Nonfiction - An overview of the lost Mayan culture)
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