In this stark, unsettling novel, set in a Mexican prison, present-day events resonate with the ancient history and wisdom of the Maya. Graham Greene meets Carlos Castaneda. In the central Yucatan a group of Maya Indian workers revolt against the corrupt oligarchy of government, business, the official union, and the press. Two young men—a traditional Maya leader and a Mexican-American lawyer—are drawn into ever deeper commitment to the struggle. When they are caught in a trap and thrown into jail, the lawyer declares a hunger strike. The story of the Maya workers, and of their village, is narrated in a series of vivid flashbacks that alternate with the grim deprivations and interrogations in the prison. Day by day, the young lawyer approaches death, and in his discussions with his friend and cell mate, there emerge two different definitions of love, loyalty, and courage, each man's version determined by the culture from which he springs. One of the chief delights of this rich, intense storytelling is the introduction it provides to the Maya understanding of time, medicine, and proper behavior. Although everything that happens in the novel could have appeared in the latest news stories out of Mexico, nothing happens quite as expected, and the startling conclusion could only have taken place in the Yucatan.

According to Mayan legend, the xtabentum flower that grows wild on the Yucatan peninsula first appeared on the grave of a free-spirited young woman who was scorned for her passion by the people of her village, but loved by the gods for her kind heart. Xtabentum: A Novel of Yucatan is a story of two young women set in the years following the Mexican Revolution in Merida, Yucatan, one of the wealthiest cities in the world at the time. Amanda Diaz is from the “divine caste,” a small group of families of European descent who dominate the politics and economy of the region. Amanda’s lifelong friend, Carmen, is from the opposite end of the social spectrum, a domestic worker, a Mayan Indian who is the daughter of one of the Diaz family servants. Against the true historical background of rebellion and assassination in the unstable country, the whipping of Carmen by a Diaz neighbor exposes the sheltered existence of the two women and drives them apart. The story follows Amanda through her horror at the social injustice of the two-class Mexico to the sacrifices she makes in the name of friendship. Parts of the story take place in modern times, where the discovery of an old birth certificate sets Amanda’s granddaughter in search of a secret about her father’s birth. Her search, told in the first person, is blended with a third-person account of the lives of Amanda and her contemporaries in the 1920s.

Andrés Canché became the cacique, or indigenous leader, of Cenotillo, Yucatán, in January 1834. By his retirement in 1864, he had become an expert politician, balancing powerful local alliances with his community’s interests as early national Yucatán underwent major political and social shifts. In Maya Caciques in Early National Yucatán, Rajeshwari Dutt uses Canché’s story as a compelling microhistory to open a new perspective on the role of the cacique in post-independence Yucatán. In most of the literature on Yucatán, caciques are seen as remnants of Spanish colonial rule, intermediaries whose importance declined over the early national period. Dutt instead shows that at the individual level, caciques became more politicized and, in some cases, gained power. Rather than focusing on the rebellion and violence that inform most scholarship on post-independence Yucatán, Dutt traces the more quotidian ways in which figures like Canché held onto power. In the process, she presents an alternative perspective on a tumultuous period in Yucatán’s history, a view that emphasizes negotiation and alliance-making at the local level. At the same time, Dutt’s exploration of the caciques’ life stories reveals a larger narrative about the emergence, evolution, and normalization of particular forms of national political conduct in the decades following independence. Over time, caciques fashioned a new political repertoire, forming strategic local alliances with villagers, priests, Spanish and Creole officials, and other caciques. As state policies made political participation increasingly difficult, Maya caciques turned clientelism, or the use of patronage relationships, into the new modus operandi of local politics. Dutt’s engaging exploration of the life and career of Andrés Canché, and of his fellow Maya caciques, illuminates the realities of politics in Yucatán, revealing that seemingly ordinary political relationships were carefully negotiated by indigenous leaders. Theirs is a story not of failure and decline, but of survival and empowerment.

Volume 1 of two-volume work. Almost single-handed discovery of Maya culture; exploration of ruined cities, monuments, temples; customs of Indians. Short biographical note and 32 illustrations by Frederick Catherwood. Includes 19 chapters.

Stephens' two expeditions to Mexico and Central America in 1839 and 1841 yielded the first solid information on the culture of the Maya Indians. The books in this two-volume set relate his archeological discoveries and exploration of ruined cities, monuments, and temples with penetrating and exciting narrative. Remarkably realistic illustrations by Frederick Catherwood double the appeal of the books.

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