Unfinished Conversations: Mayas and Foreigners Between Two Wars

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Although their first uprising in 1847 was put down, Maya Indians were hunted in the forest by Mexicans who burned their crops and ambushed families well into the 20th century. A mix of history, travelogue and ethnographic field research, this episodic narrative throws into sharp relief a people who now live in peace but who believe a future apocalypse is possible. Yale anthropologist Sullivan shows how the Mayas and foreign intruders--soldiers, merchants, spies, diplomats, tourists--teetered between menace and friendship, betrayal and reconciliation. He juxtaposes Mayan poems, prophecies and conversations, as well as old photographs, maps and eyewitness testimonies. Sexual banter, love and romance among the Mayas make for interesting observations here. (Nov.)

Library Journal

From the time of the Caste Wars of 1848 several groups of Yucatan Mayas have openly challenged Mexican claims to their territory; like their ancestors, they foretell a new beginning, not too far in the future, possibly through war. Sullivan's absorbing account of these rebel Mayas picks up the story of the Spanish conquest where Nancy Farriss ended her recent Maya Society Under Colonial Rule (LJ 8/84). Surviving correspondence, mostly between anthropologist Sylvanus Morely and Mayan Captain Cituk and Lieutenant Zuluub, tells a compelling tale from both sides about the post-Columbian encounter between Native Americans and European intruders. Sullivan skillfully weaves this archival data with varied strands of scholarship, including his own anthropological field work, into one of the best books in recent years on the clash of Western and Indian cultures. Scholarly but highly readable, this book should circulate well in both public and university libraries.-- William S. Dancey, Ohio State Univ., Columbus