The Maya: Diego de Landa's Account of the Affairs of Yucatan by Pagden, A.R - 1975

Chicago: J. Philip O'Hara, Inc, 1975. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. A near fine copy in a near fine jacket. Top page ridge lightly foxed. 1975 Hard Cover. 191 pp. "Diego de Landa Calderón, O.F.M. (12 November 1524 – 29 April 1579) was a Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán.[1] Many historians criticize his campaign against idolatry. In particular, he burned almost all the Mayan manuscripts (codices) that would have been very useful in deciphering Mayan script, knowledge of Maya religion and civilization, and the history of the American continent. Nonetheless, his work in documenting and researching the Mayans was indispensable in achieving the current understanding of their culture, to the degree that one scholar asserted that "ninety-nine percent of what we today know of the Mayas, we know as the result either of what Landa has told us in the pages that follow, or have learned in the use and study of what he told." [2]"--Wikipedia