A Forest Of History

David Freidel and Linda Schele’s monumental work A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (1990) offered an innovative, rigorous, and controversial approach to studying the ancient Maya, unifying archaeological, iconographic, and epigraphic data in a form accessible to both scholars and laypeople. Travis Stanton and Kathryn Brown’s A Forest of History: The Maya after the Emergence of Divine Kingship presents a collection of essays that critically engage with and build upon the lasting contributions A Forest of Kings made to Maya epigraphy, iconography, material culture, and history. These original papers present new, cutting-edge research focusing on the social changes leading up to the spread of divine kingship across the lowlands in the first part of the Early Classic. The contributors continue avenues of inquiry such as the timing of the Classic Maya collapse across the southern lowlands, the nature of Maya warfare, the notion of usurpation and “stranger-kings” in the Classic period, the social relationships between the ruler and elite of the Classic period Yaxchilán polity, and struggles for sociopolitical dominance among the later Classic period polities of Chichén Itzá, Cobá, and the Puuc kingdoms. Many of the interpretations and approaches in A Forest of Kings have withstood the test of time, while others have not; a complete understanding of the Classic Maya world is still developing. In A Forest of History recent discoveries are considered in the context of prior scholarship, illustrating both the progress the field has made in the past quarter century and the myriad questions that remain. The volume will be a significant contribution to the literature for students, scholars, and general readers interested in Mesoamerican and Maya archaeology. Contributors: Wendy Ashmore, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, Wilberth Cruz Alvarado, Arthur A. Demarest, Keith Eppich, David A. Freidel, Charles W. Golden, Stanley P. Guenter, Annabeth Headrick, Aline Magnoni, Joyce Marcus, Marilyn A. Masson, Damaris Menéndez, Susan Milbrath, Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, José Osorio León, Carlos Peraza Lope, Juan Carlos Pérez Calderón, Griselda Pérez Robles, Francisco Pérez Ruíz, Michelle Rich, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Andrew K. Scherer, Karl A. Taube

Publisher Description

The recent interpretation of Maya hieroglyphs has given us the first written history of the New World as it existed before the European invasion. Now, two central figures in the massive effort to decode the glyphs, Linda Schele and David Freidel, make this history available for the first time in all its detail. A Forest of Kings is the story of Maya kingship, from the beginning of its institution and the first great pyramid builders two thousand years ago to the decline of Maya civilization and its destruction by the Spanish. Here the great historic rulers of Precolumbian civilization come to life again with the decipherment of the writing. At its height, Maya civilization flourished under great kings like Shield-Jaguar, who ruled for over sixty years, expanding his kingdom and building some of the most impressive works of architecture in the ancient world. Long placed on a mist-shrouded pedestal as austere, peaceful stargazers, the Maya elites are now known to have been the rulers or populous, aggressive city-states. Hailed as "a Rosetta Stone of Maya civilization" (Brian M. Fagan, author of People of the Earth), A Forest of Kings is "a must for interested readers," says Evon Vogt, professor of anthropology at Harvard University.

The idea of a Venetian forestry service might strike one as the beginning of a joke. The statement that it began in the fourteenth century would surprise most people. Venice is built on a lagoon with no timber resources. This book reveals the story of Venice's attempt to establish protected forests in order to have a constant supply of wood. Beyond the need for wood for heating and cooking, tall beams of oak and beech were needed for ship building and the shoring up of breakwaters that kept the sea from flooding the city. The author follows the practice of forest conservation and management from its inception in the 1300s to the end of the eighteenth century. He details the administrative and legal debates as well as problems with the implementation of policies. This study is a corrective to histories that assume a lack of interest in forest conservation in Europe at this time. The experience of the Venetians also serves as an example for timber use and conservation today.

Ken Drushka analyses the changes in human attitudes towards the forests, detailing the rise of the late nineteenth-century conservation movement and its subsequent decline after World War I, the interplay between industry and government in the development of policy, the adoption of sustained yield policies after World War II, and the recent adoption of sustainable forest management in response to environmental concerns. Drushka argues that, despite the centuries of use, the Canadian forest retains a good deal of its vitality and integrity. Written in accessible language and aimed at a general readership, Canada's Forests will be a must-read for anyone interested in the debate about the current and future uses of this precious natural resource.

This unique 'biography' encompasses a thousand years of the natural history and evolution of an old-growth forest in the western Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Called an "estimable piece of work" by the Boston Globe, Forest Primeval traces the life cycle of a forest from its fiery inception in the year 987 to the present day, when logging threatens the forest and its inhabitants.

“A thoughtful, thorough, and updated account of this bio-region” from the author of From Sail to Steam: Four Centuries of Texas Maritime History, 1500-1900 (Great Plains Research). Winner, Friends of the Dallas Public Library Award, Texas Institute of Letters, 2001 A complex mosaic of post oak and blackjack oak forests interspersed with prairies, the Cross Timbers cover large portions of southeastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and north central Texas. Home to indigenous peoples over several thousand years, the Cross Timbers were considered a barrier to westward expansion in the nineteenth century, until roads and railroads opened up the region to farmers, ranchers, coal miners, and modern city developers, all of whom changed its character in far-reaching ways. This landmark book describes the natural environment of the Cross Timbers and interprets the role that people have played in transforming the region. Richard Francaviglia opens with a natural history that discusses the region’s geography, geology, vegetation, and climate. He then traces the interaction of people and the landscape, from the earliest indigenous inhabitants and European explorers to the developers and residents of today’s ever-expanding cities and suburbs. Many historical and contemporary maps and photographs illustrate the text. “This is the most important, original, and comprehensive regional study yet to appear of the amazing Cross Timbers region in North America . . . It will likely be the standard benchmark survey of the region for quite some time.” —John Miller Morris, Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Texas at San Antonio

Written in 1894 and recently recovered from the archives of the University of Minnesota, this autobiography tells the story of a Chippewa-Scots-French woman from Madeline Island in Lake Superior. The child and grandchild of fur traders, Eliza Morrison describes her family's starving time on their homestead, and her travels by boat, dog sled, and on foot. M'tis culture comes alive as Native American lore blends with homesteading stories, giving a nineteenth century woman's view of the Wisconsin Death march, the Dream Dance, Indian marriage and burial customs, making maple sugar, and the Chippewa-Dakota War. She relates two never-before-recorded Native stories, complete with songs. Includes glossaries of names, places, and Chippewa words.