Author William Carlsen offers the true story of the uncovering of the remains of the astonishing Maya civilization that revealed an ancient, wide-spread and sophisticated culture. In 1839, rumors of baffling stone ruins in the jungles of Mexico and Central America reached two intrepid travelers, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood. Drawing upon their journals and illustrations, Carlsen tells how this stunning discovery changed the prevailing view of human history in the Western Hemisphere.
William Carlsen is a journalist and writer who has worked for the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, and has taught journalism at the San Francisco State University and University of California-Berkeley. He was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory writing for a series of articles on the AIDS crisis. He lives in Petaluma, California and Antigua, Guatemala.
Meet the Author(s)
