Spirits of the Jaguar: The Natural History and Ancient Civilizations of the Caribbean and Central America

From the soil of Central America sprang the great civilizations of the Maya and the Aztec, whose history was violent and savage. The Caribbean was the site of the great encounter between the Old and New Worlds, and the region suffered some of the fiercest excesses of colonization. This book tells the story of Central America and the Caribbean from prehistoric times to the present, and also provides a study of the region's wildlife and natural history.