Treasures of the Aztecs, Inca & Other Mesoamericans

by Andrew Whitfield, Richard McColl

224 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2025

Reviews

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This richly illustrated book explores the art, architecture, and cultural legacy of Mesoamerica, from the rise of the Olmecs to the fall of the Aztecs, showcasing familiar and lesser-known sites and artifacts. The photos are beautiful, while the text is interesting and educational.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Jenn Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrated book of Mesoamerican art. There is a huge variety of pieces, some of which I have never seen. So many cool pieces of art and historical context.

5 stars

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This takes it upon itself to cover a lot of ground, but covers it pretty well – and prettily, too. Starting with ten pages or so regarding the Olmecs, the first known major civilisation in their part of the world, we see their stone heads, and other statuary and carving, and snippets of the landscape they called home. Then it's on to the Mayans, who had far more advanced pyramids, and a lot more that is familiar to us today. Their chapter is still only three pages of text – but a lot more besides, with in-depth captions to the illustrations being very nicely judged for the passing browser, as opposed to the specialist. Here are intricate jade death-masks, and even a wooden carving.

And so we progress, with the bulk of the latter pages of course concerning the Incas – although by then, unfortunately, what I saw (courtesy a netgalley digital file) had long degenerated into something with dreadful proof-reading; a lot would have had a Word squiggly red line, for repeated words, bad grammar, sheer nonsense, and untruths. For one, there is no way Machu Picchu was hidden for "thousands of years" when it is from the fifteenth century.

Which is a shame, as this region of the world I feel needs a lot of clarity in the explanation, with all the civilisations supplanting others, and with so much we just don't know now. I mean, I fail to see how you can only recently find figures of 25 stone in weight "on the summit" of mahoosive, exposed pyramid sites. But my curiosity is nothing compared to the general worldwide bafflement that persists about the purpose of Machu Picchu, the Nazca Lines, and the ridiculous precision of the stonework.

This gives us a good look at museum-grade relics, and world heritage sites, alike, and the near-A4 format would be wonderful to see all the gold and stone remains on. I'm not stating that finished thing had the text problems I saw – and I'm certainly lauding the visuals. I'm throwing a caveat out there, just in case this isn't as good as it should be. Knowing Amber Books' usual standards, I'd still be positive about this and give four stars – but there's a "but" there.