The Maya have lived in parts of Mexico and Central America for thousands of years, forging one of the greatest societies in the history of the Americas -- indeed, of humankind. Long before European contact, Mayas built spectacular cities, created complex agricultural systems, mastered the visual arts, and developed a sophisticated writing system that recorded calendrical, mathematical, and astronomical knowledge. Yet there was never a Maya empire...

Explores Jesus' symbolic practices, his teachings, and his public career, and emphasizes how his actions, such as his healings, were just as important as his words. Placing Jesus in his proper historical context by considering Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule, Bauckham concludes by considering the significance Jesus has come to have for Christian faith worldwide.

"The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction draws on the Court's history and its written and unwritten rules to show how it operates in the twenty-first century. Today's Supreme Court, housed in a majestic building on Capitol Hill, bears little resemblance to the institution launched by the Framers of the Constitution and was originally seen as the weakest of the three branches of government. Over the next 200 years, the Court put the independence...

The marine environment is the largest, most important, and yet most mysterious habitat on our planet. It contains more than 99% of the world's living space, produces half of its oxygen, plays a critical role in regulating its climate, and supports a remarkably diverse and exquisitely adapted array of life forms, from microscopic viruses, bacteria, and plankton to the largest existing animals. In this unique Very Short Introduction, biologist Philip...

This accessible volume covers both the teachings of the Buddha and the integration of Buddhism into daily life. Words such as "karma" and "nirvana" have entered our vocabulary, but what do they really mean? Keown has taught Buddhism at an introductory level for many years, and in this book he provides a lively, challenging response to frequently asked questions.

Stoicism is two things: a long past philosophical school of ancient Greece and Rome, and an enduring philosophical movement that still inspires people in the twenty-first century to rethink and reorganize their lives in order to achieve personal satisfaction. What is the connection between them? This Very Short Introduction provides an introductory account of Stoic philosophy, and tells the story of how ancient Stoicism survived and evolved into the...

This Very Short Introduction to Classics links a haunting temple on a lonely mountainside to the glory of ancient Greece and the grandeur of Rome, and to Classics within modern culture-from Jefferson and Byron to Asterix and Ben-Hur. We are all Classicists - we come into touch with the Classics daily: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations...

For better or worse—be it militarily, politically, economically, technologically, or culturally—Americans have had a profound role in shaping the wider world beyond them. The United States has been a savior to some, a curse to others, but either way such views are often based on a caricature of American actions and intentions. American Foreign Relations, then, is a subject of immense global importance that provokes strong emotions and...

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Four o'clock in the morning, and the lights are on and still there's no way we're going to sleep, not after the film we just saw. The book we just read. Fear is one of the most primal human emotions, and one of the hardest to reason with and dispel. So why do we scare ourselves? It seems almost mad that we would frighten ourselves for fun, and yet there are thousands of books, films,...

"Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the centre of a Universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this centre. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the Universe was created essentially in its present state about 6000 years ago. Even less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was...