For centuries, indigenous rulers of Mesoamerica commissioned elaborate pictorial histories to maintain their claims to power, land, and privilege--a practice they continued under Spanish authority after the conquest. The Lienzo of Tlapiltepec is one such history. An intricate pictographic document o[...]
"Big Dead Place" examines daily life in Antarctica, with a look at early explorers, the local history of the region's two largest U.S. bases, and the internal culture of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Working for that program, self-proclaimed "smirking lackey" Nicholas Johnson quickly finds a world far[...]