Time Among the Maya: Travels in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico

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This is at once a riveting journey, written with wit and wisdom, but also a study of a civilisation.

'Time Among the Maya shows Ronald Wright to be far more than a mere storyteller or descriptive writer. He is an historical philosopher with a profound understanding of other cultures.' Jan Morris, Independent

'Wright is a superb travel writer, erudite, humorous, without bias.' The Observer

The Maya created one of the most dazzling civilizations on earth, famed for its art, astronomy, mathematics and mythology, and its deep, metaphysical fascination with the mystery of time.

Though it collapsed in the ninth century, Ronald Wright travels through the old territories of the Maya (the jungles and mountains of Guatemala, Belize and Mexico) in search of its survival. Despite civil wars and centuries of oppression by first a Hispanic, then a mestizo culture, he discovers a region where seven million people still speak Mayan languages and strive to maintain their resilient, indigenous culture. Riveting both as a journey and a study of a civilization, Wright captures his experience with wit and profound wisdom.

Author Bio

Ronald Wright is the author of ten books of fiction, history, essays and travel published in eighteen languages and more than forty countries. His first novel, A Scientific Romance, won Britan's David Higham Prize for Fiction and was chosen as a book of the year by the Sunday Times and the New York Times. Wright's CBC Massey Lectures, A Short History of Progress, won the Libris Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year and inspired Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary film Surviving Progress. His other bestsellers include Time Among the Maya and Stolen Continents, chosen as a book of the year by the Independent and the Sunday Times. His latest work is The Gold Eaters, a novel set during the Spanish invasion of the Inca Empire. Born in England to British and Canadian parents, Wright lives on Canada's west coast.