The demi-human macaques that rule the great forest have brought disaster upon their species. A profane creature, known as a diabo, drains power from their gods and threatens to turn their home into a barren wasteland. None of this would normally concern a human boy like Kai, but the macaques have named him as their protector, and his god insists that the diabo must be slain. Apparently, their diabo is his problem now. Meanwhile, the guardian bearers of the borderlands are making preparations to attend the winter solstice banquet in the provincial capital. There they will drink, feast, and fight, thereby strengthening their ties. As Lag’s most promising young soldier, Kai has been invited to attend and witness this gathering of powerful warriors for himself.

When Kai became the host vessel to the god of the valley, he was made a guardian bearer with power far beyond any ordinary human. To many, he is the embodiment of an ancient god known for its fearsome power and thirst for blood, and those seeking his protection have begun to form a small nation with the valley at its center. To others, Kai is simply a poor young boy living in a remote village in the borderlands. A village whose existence is threatened by a hostile demi-human race that lurks in the nearby forest. It’s only a matter of time before Kai must fight to defend the village, but corrupt officials from the capital are driving the village to ruin before the battle even begins. The mysterious priest, with magic far more advanced than his own, could be a valuable ally as Kai struggles to understand the human nation’s politics and the power of its gods. But with the priest watching Kai’s every move, his double life could soon be exposed.

In the harsh region known as the borderlands, humans must fight an endless battle against demi-human creatures that come at them relentlessly, intent on taking their land and their gods. A young boy named Kai, fighting to defend his village, sustains a life-threatening injury that causes him to regain memories from a past life. If you’re not a guardian bearer, it’s like you’re playing life on hard mode... Kai’s newfound knowledge gives him a new sense of the unfair “rule set” that governs the world around him. One thing is clear: For those without a god to serve as their guardian, life is a constant struggle for survival. Thus begins the epic tale of a young boy’s ascent into a vast world filled with magic, bloodshed, and mystery.

The publication of Volume 16 of this distinguished series brings to a close one of the largest research and documentation projects ever undertaken on the Middle American Indians. Since the publication of Volume 1 in 1964, the Handbook of Middle American Indians has provided the most complete information on every aspect of indigenous culture, including natural environment, archaeology, linguistics, social anthropology, physical anthropology, ethnology, and ethnohistory. Culminating this massive project is Volume 16, divided into two parts. Part I, Sources Cited, by Margaret A. L. Harrison, is a listing in alphabetical order of all the bibliographical entries cited in Volumes 1-11. (Volumes 12-15, comprising the Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, have not been included, because they stand apart in subject matter and contain or constitute independent bibliographical material.) Part II, Location of Artifacts Illustrated, by Marjorie S. Zengel, details the location (at the time of original publication) of the owner of each pre-Columbian American artifact illustrated in Volumes 1-11 of the Handbook, as well as the size and the catalog, accession, and/or inventory number that the owner assigns to the object. The two parts of Volume 16 provide a convenient and useful reference to material found in the earlier volumes. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

Ethnology comprises the seventh and eighth volumes in the Handbook of Middle American Indians, published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). The editor of the Ethnology volumes is Evon Z. Vogt (1918–2004), Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Social Relations, Harvard University. These two books contain forty-three articles, all written by authorities in their field, on the ethnology of the Maya region, the southern Mexican highlands and adjacent regions, the central Mexican highlands, western Mexico, and northwest Mexico. Among the topics described for each group of Indians are the history of ethnological investigations, cultural and linguistic distributions, major postcontact events, population, subsistence systems and food patterns, settlement patterns, technology, economy, social organization, religion and world view, aesthetic and recreational patterns, life cycle and personality development, and annual cycle of life. The volumes are illustrated with photographs and drawings of contemporary and early historical scenes of native Indian life in Mexico and Central America. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

This book is a reflective, original, and sometimes speculative essay on the concept of power and the man-god tradition in Mexican colonial history, with some provocative thoughts on how that tradition affected the way the indigenous population reacted to the cultural upheavals of the Spanish Conquest and its aftermath. The basis of the work is the rich documentation that survives from efforts to prosecute cases of idolatry and witchcraft. The author closely examines four such cases - Indian peasants living in central Mexico who proclaimed themselves successors of the gods during various stages of the colonial era (in 1537, 1659, 1665, and 1761). Drawing on the testimony of these man-gods and their followers, the author describes the emergence of these native leaders, discusses their individual qualities, and evaluates their impact and hold on their followers. He also sets out in substance their speeches and depositions, which provide a rare critique of colonial society. Coming from the lower classes, socially and culturally marginal, these man-gods tried to understand and surmount the profound changes that were crushing their society. Their actions were doomed to failure, but they reveal a dynamism and creativity that have been ignored by conventional historians. In a more general way, the book demonstrates through concrete examples how popular cultures constantly change and recreate their own traditions, and how vanquished and dominated societies, in order to construct a new identity, create new cultural forms.