Book 17

The Myths of Mexico and Peru

by Lewis Spence

Published 25 February 1994
The Myths of Mexico and Peru conjures images of far-off places in warm and humid countries, invokes names of unimaginable power, and chronicles times of bloody conquest and deeds much larger than life. Lewis Spence embeds the Latin-American mythology in history and recasts it in description informed by the lore of living peoples and by the most knowledgeable scholars of the time. This was a book written to be read, reread, and pondered. This was a book--is a book--to acquaint us with, and even to help us understand, other worlds and other times. It is far more than just the mythology of early Latin American civilizations. The Myths of Mexico and Peru embeds their mythology in history and recasts the history in description informed by the lore of living peoples and based on written materials provided by the most knowledgeable scholars of the time, whose foundation of scholarship has seen surprisingly little restructuring through the passage of these many years.