In this new, revised edition of Jeremy Sabloff's study, he looks at some of the richest cultures of the early historic world - Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec. Professor Sabloff describes everyday life during the heyday of Mexico's greatest cities in a series of vignettes; through the eyes of astronomers and ballplayers, merchants and priests, we see the temples, palaces and tombs of a civilization obsessed with ritual and death. Who built these cities and how do we know? Sabloff seeks to explain why archaeologists believe in the indigenous origins of the Mexican civilization.