I wish more of this info made it into American History classes. ( )

My wife and I were heading to Tulum and I was hoping to learn more about the Maya. This was just perfect. I was entranced. I now have tremendous respect for the Mayan people and their culture. We had a Mayan driver take us to several Mayan ruins in the area and I think this really helped me appreciate what I was seeing. I think I was surprised by how much we do know about the last 3000 years in the Americas. There are many wonderful lectures. I particularly enjoyed the lectures on Tulum and Cortez, as well as those on Mayan astronomy, mathematics and art. This really needs to become a more serious component of American education. This is one of my top 5 books in the last 10 years. ( )

I really enjoyed this lecture series. Dr. Barhart is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about Mesoamerican cultures. He's gotten his hands dirty in archeological sites like Copan in Honduras (been there, yeah!).

The only reason I would not rate this series a 5 is because it really needs pictures and maps. About half-way through the lectures, I started looking up images of the locations and artifacts online. This really helped add to the lecture. I would suggest that other listeners do this.

This lecture series has been an important part of the research in my third novel: "Avenue of the Dead." Was that a plug? Maybe, but I wanted to give credit to where credit was due. Thank Dr. Barnhart. Keep digging.
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