Lightning in the Andes and Mesoamerica: Pre-Columbian, Colonial, and Contemporary Perspectives
"Lightning is a universally awesome phenomenon that reminds witnesses of the active presence of force and power in the world beyond any obvious human control or command. In these lucid and well-crafted twin essays and engaging collaborative summary, the authors have woven the cosmologies of two major Pre-Columbian cultural worlds on the strand of this power. It is ethnology in the grand tradition: the systematic comparison and integration of ethnographic observations to achieve insight into the rationales and sensibilities of the regional cultural traditions in question. It is a lively read and a helpful reference for all who are interested in comparative religion, cosmology, and Pre-Columbian civilization."--David Friedel, Washington University, St. Louis"This book is an exhaustive synthesis of a huge body of scholarship about the great significance of lightning imagery in the world views of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and Andean South America. It is full of important original insights, and is one of the very few systematic comparisons known to me of ancient lightning iconography in these two nuclear centers of indigenous New World civilization."--Jeffrey R. Parsons, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor