Alexander Stille's The Future of the Past (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002; $25) is a collection of essays organized around a paradox: even as the technology to preserve the past improves exponentially, the pace of industrialization and globalization threatens artifacts, monuments, and even entire languages like never before. Of special interest are essays on the Sphinx, Sicilian grave robbers, and a compelling piece on the different philosophies underpinning conservation efforts in Europe and China.
[ More books...]

In Maya: Divine Kings of the Rain Forest (Columbia, MD: Daedalus Books, 2001; $39.95), edited by N. Grube, E. Eggerbrecht, and M. Seidel, Mayanists describe the wonders the most current research in the field has exposed, from the rise of the state to the voices of the modern Maya. The volume is stuffed with some 700 full-color, glossy photographs and illustrations, and appended with a useful glossary, timeline, and site descriptions.
[More Mexico & Central/South America...]

Whether you're ready to backpack across Egypt or revel in it from the comfort of your chair, Robert B. Jackson's At Empire's Edge: Exploring Rome's Egyptian Frontier (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002; $37.50) is a fascinating gazetteer that leads the reader to well-known, forgotten, or recently discovered caravan routes, fortresses, and settlements the Romans scattered throughout Egypt. The poorly reproduced black-and-white photographs, however, are a considerable drawback to an otherwise enjoyable book.
[More Rome and Egypt books...]