The Maya Apocalypse and Its Western Roots

Just as each generation believes it has discovered the truth about the past, each generation rewrites prophecy. Having exposed the colonial origins of the 2012 Maya Apocalypse at its vespers, Restall and Solari return to the scene of the crime with a decade of perspective to show how millenarianism or the belief in calculable cosmic destruction and renewal has been both a perennial Western project and a frequent Western projection onto other civilizations. The Maya, thanks to key factors described with clarity and humor by Restall and Solari, are simply among the most recent victims of such backward projection. And yet apocalyptic thinking has also escaped the grasp of Western culture, as any student of cargo cults knows. This is a penetrating and playful examination of an alarming phenomenon that ends with a hard look in the mirror. You may not like what you see, but you’ll love what you read. -- Kris E. Lane, Tulane University
Restall and Solari’s brilliant book solves a mystery: Whence came the world’s widespread conviction that the Maya had foreseen the coming of the apocalypse in 2012? First the authors look for clues in the Mayan world they know so well. They then turn and look across the sea—and there, among Western traditions, they find the ‘millenarian motherlode.’ It is rare to find a book that is both erudite and crystal clear, but these two have written one. -- Camilla Townsend, Rutgers University