Despite its proximity, Central America is as distant to some North Americans as Asia, and its people and traditions just as exotic. Basing his study on archaeological evidence including buildings, art, and artifacts, Augustus le Plongeon, in 1866, provided a comprehensive account of ancient Mayan civilization, the foundation for modern Central American culture.

Delivered with poetry and logic, le Plongeons comparison of the mythology and spiritual belief systems of this 11,000-year-old society and those of others (from the ancient Egyptians to Christians) illustrates just how human many...