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A review by manwithanagenda
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of by William Carlsen
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
What a phenomenal book. Carlsen traces the lives of the two men who, while not the first to discover the Mayan ruins, but were the first to see the sites for what they were: an indigenous civilization. John L. Stephens was an accomplished writer and enthusiastic traveler. In addition, the profuse illustrations by Frederick Catherwood were so accurate they can be used by researchers today. Their story is remarkable.
This isn't a small book, but it never lagged or skimped on detail. I came into the book interested primarily in the ruins themselves, but I loved the detail of the revolutions, the pursuit of passage through South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the early lives of Stephens and Catherwood.
This isn't a small book, but it never lagged or skimped on detail. I came into the book interested primarily in the ruins themselves, but I loved the detail of the revolutions, the pursuit of passage through South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the early lives of Stephens and Catherwood.