Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya: The Great Classic of Central American Spirituality, Translated from the Original Maya Text

In Popol Vuh, anonymous Mayan authors excellently combine both the history and the lore of the Quiché Maya to tell the story of their origin and explain their existence as well as explain why things in the world happened the way that they did. As an AP World History student, I found this book incredibly intriguing. The way that Christenson translated this from the original language was not only fluid but captured the voice of the Maya. Their unique tone and style is clear and contributes a rustic feel that helps the reader clearly visualize the events being described. Both the adventures of the various Mayan gods and the tales of wars between the Quichés and the so-called nations offer an interesting read and an insight to early Central American culture.Popol Vuh has a clear purpose. As stated in the preamble, it is to "...tell the ancient stories of the beginning, the origin of all that was done in the citadel of Quiché, among the people of the Quiché nation." The authors do this well, of course. They clearly illustrate how the earth, the animals, and the different versions of people (mud, wood, etc) were created and what purpose they served in the order of things. Animals, for example, were created to be eaten and humans were created to praise the gods. Then, slightly out of order, the stories of various human-like gods, including Hunahpu and Xbalanque, are told. These stories describe why things happen the way they do. They give explanations to things such as the size of the macaw's eyes and the wideness of the whippoorwill's mouth. Finally, Popol Vuh gives an account of the early history of the Quiché Maya. All of these combined complete a tale of the ancient stories of the beginning, as the authors reference them in the preamble, as well as the origin of the Quiché Maya and their people.

This book was very fun to read! There were many parts of the book where I got confused about what was going on, but a quick reread of the section cleared things up. Christenson completed his goal of given these ancient authors their voice once more. The different writing styles throughout the piece kept it interesting as well. This Mayan story of creation had many dark twists and turns, such as when the gods were not pleased with the people created out of trees, so the sentenced to death by sending a large flood to wipe them out.I would recommend this book to people that are interested in the ancient Mayan culture and the religion surrounding them. The Popol Vuh goes into great detail of way the gods that purposed throughout the text should be worshiped and even have human sacrifices for. This polytheistic religion was very intriguing to learn about. I ended up doing some researching of my own after completing the book. Overall, I thought that the Popol Vuh was an excellent book and I couldn't stop reading it after I started.

It is one of the few works of indigenous literature to survive the purges by the Spanish. The Popol Vuh should be read in every Indigenous literature class

This is a very well researched and beautifully translated work. It is a little difficult to read on my iPhone in Kindle version, owing to the vast number of footnotes and explanatory notes. These are very good and thorough, but it becomes somewhat hard to follow the narrative on such a small screen. It would likely be much more easily read in print media. It is the translation of the material recorded by the Spanish from the oral account given them by the conquered Maya. Since their "books" records and genealogies were destroyed by the zealous missionaries seeking their total conversion (as an afterthought not considered to have been the best idea), this is the only surviving record of their beliefs and traditions. It is enlightening and this appears to be a very good translation.

Excellent. Easy to read with immense amounts of notes surrounding the text. Pictures also help the story come to life a bit.

The translation is very readable for an amateur historian like me, and while some might be turned off by the extensive footnotes, I appreciated the context and why translation choices were made. But what i really appreciated is the scientific names for animals named so I can look up accurate pictures for me to visualize.

One of my favorite books so far. You'll notice a lot of similarities to Christian and other religious stories. This helps to show that all religions and creation stories have a unified source and are all basically teaching the same things. There is also a video version of this available on my youtube channel. Just search Popol Vuh animated version and you'll find it.

This book is an incredible read, and great quality. The binding of the book is strong. Overall, I recommend this book as a product and piece of literature.