2012 and the End of the World

Matthew Restall is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Colonial Latin American History, Anthropology, and Women's Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Amara Solari is assistant professor of art history at The Pennsylvania State University.

Media are full of doomsday predictions related to the Maya Long Count calendar end date, December 21, 2012, in today’s Western calendar. Restall and Solari take a serious look at Maya calendar development, archaeology, and history to seek the truth behind the so-called Maya doomsday prophecy, which adherents believe may forecast the end of the world. The authors see no evidence that Long Count calendar dates for the future, carved on stone monuments at Maya archaeological sites in Mexico and Central America, indicate predictions of doom. Their thorough examination of Maya carvings, images, and writings leads them to the conclusion that the preconquest Maya were not particularly millenarian. By contrast, their Spanish conquerors came from a culture steeped in eschatological thinking. The authors effectively provide scholarly evidence to back up their hypothesis that millenarianism probably came via the Spanish and is not intrinsic to the traditional Maya worldview and to debunk prophecies of doom. VERDICT This readable analysis based on credible scholarship is a needed and balanced counterpoint to the many sensationalist works on the Maya doomsday prophecy as 2012 approaches. Highly recommended for all seeking a reasoned perspective on Maya calendar systems.

• Introduction: You Really Can SurviveChapter 1: The History of the End of the World: The Maya PredictionChapter 2: They Deserve Better: The Maya EvidenceChapter 3: God Is Angry: The Millenarian Mother LodeChapter 4: The Moctezuma Factor: The End of the World Comes to MexicoChapter 5: Apocalypto: The Millennium Comes to the MayaChapter 6: We Are Almost There: Why People BelieveSources and Suggestions for Further Reading