Book Review: Mesoamerican History and Mythology by History Brought Alive

Much of ancient history has been lost over time. I’m sure history buffs, archaeologists, anthropologists, et al. could spend hours or days debating and lamenting the reasons for this but that sadly doesn’t change reality.

The rich history of the Mesoamerican people is one such part of history that deserves our attention. The splendor of the architecture in the Yucatan and surrounding areas continues to delight us as more and more is uncovered. Who were these sophisticated people who created such complex societies in the distant past? History Brought Alive attempts to answer this question in their book, Mesoamerican History & Mythology.

I enjoy reading books by History Brought Alive because they allow me to engage in something I love. Reading and learning about history can be a time-consuming endeavor but with these small bite-sized pieces of history, laid out in layman’s terms, History Brought Alive allows people to sample history in a well-researched and manageable way.

Mesoamerican history, with the very small bit I know about it (thanks to my own research for book two in my series), is a tough one to tackle. There is so much we do not know, or can only speculate upon because of a lack of historical evidence. I want more, and while this book does a good job presenting some of what we know, a lot felt like it was missing.

Now, a case could definitely be made that each civilization, under the “Mesoamerican” umbrella, is vastly unique despite some commonalities. There is definitely overlap, and maybe History Brought Alive made the decision to stick to only those elements of the history that all groups shared for simplicity. For me, this was disappointing.

The full title of the book suggests it will cover mythology, legends, and mysteries of the Mesoamerican people, but to me, it barely scratched the surface. In my opinion, if you want to get a solid grasp on a culture and its history, read their stories, and dive into the folklore. It is there that you will find nourishment for your curious soul.

Another observation I had while reading this book is that the writing style was noticeably different from previous books I’ve read by History Brought Alive ( this makes number 11). The best way I can describe it is too wordy for the sake of being wordy. I wouldn’t have minded if the author had been saying a lot about the topic but instead, it was more like a commentary of sorts which was distracting.

Overall, this book did give an introduction to the Mesoamerican people, and definitely increased my appetite to know more, but only because I feel like it didn’t fulfill the promise made by the title, which is also the reason for my 3/5 star rating.

*I was given a copy of this book by Booksirens.com for review*