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Green Gold
Courtesy Lyons Press
by Ronni Mott
January 4, 2012
Yazoo City author Gerard Helferich has written an engrossing adventure about a little-known subject: jade in the Americas. Once the most prized stone of Olmec and Mayan rulers in Central and South America, the stone fell out of favor in this hemisphere when European invaders had no use for it. The Spaniards favored gold (which the Mayans called "excrement of the gods") instead. Jade, Helferich writes, never appealed to Europeans, although in Asia the finest jade is more valuable than gold or even diamonds.
The search for jade's source in the Americas took on the air of mystery when evidence of forgotten, ancient and highly sophisticated civilizations emerged from the equatorial jungles. Where did it come from?
"Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya" (Lyons Press, 2012, $24.95) deftly combines history, archaeology, mineralogy, mythology and superb writing into a gem of a book that you'll find difficult to put down.
Meet Gerard Helferich Jan. 4 at noon at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (200 North St.) when he reads from and speaks about his book during History Is Lunch. Bring your lunch; water and coffee provided. Call 601-576-6998 for more information.
posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/04/12 at 02:28 PM. [printer version] Share |
COMMENTS
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May 24, 2012 | 09:34 PMBryant Signs Voter ID Bill
golden eagle: @notmuch, here are some facts about voter fraud, straight from the Brennan Center's website: Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare. Most citizens who ...
May 24, 2012 | 07:14 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
notmuch: Oh, I have hundreds of those right-wing sites, and I couldn't say which ones are more "partisan"--they all include those pesky facts. Yes, when dead voters and multiple voters under ...
May 24, 2012 | 07:11 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
justjess: @ golden eagle. Thanks for the spell check. I didn't just spell assassination wrong ONE time, I did it over and over. LOL! You are right on the mark; I was trying to use the word ...
May 24, 2012 | 06:46 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
golden eagle: I don't think you could've found a more partisan right-wing site than the Daily Caller. The fact of the matter is that the right is using this issue not as a means of improving ...
May 24, 2012 | 06:10 PM
[Dish] Cobby Williams, Young Gun
trusip: WOW! was this a real interview or a joke?
May 24, 2012 | 05:00 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
notmuch: I don't think you could have found a more liberal example of a "non-partisan" site, but even so, their evidence seems to consist of 250 carefully chosen instances in one area of ...
May 24, 2012 | 04:48 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
golden eagle: Rather than using ideological websites to support your argument, I'll use the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice. Really good site.
May 24, 2012 | 04:30 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
notmuch: I might be missing something here, but I am a little confused by Golden Eagle's points: "the fact is that voter fraud is extremely rare"--so it is of no consequence that some ...
May 24, 2012 | 11:26 AM
Nick Hanauer's 'Controversial' TED Talk -- Tax the Rich?
RobbieR: TED is an elite academic conference.
May 24, 2012 | 10:18 AM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
DonnaLadd: No, Darryl, no one blocked you. Stop being paranoid. We just typically open comments in moderation during non-office hours. To me, a bozo isn't someone who disagrees with me. It's ...
May 24, 2012 | 06:18 AM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
Darryl: That's funny that you blocked my last comment...
May 24, 2012 | 05:31 AM
Nick Hanauer's 'Controversial' TED Talk -- Tax the Rich?
Renaldo Bryant: So true. This is why critical and analytical thinking are so important to citizens in a democracy. The rich have the power to shape perception ...
May 23, 2012 | 05:24 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
Darryl: justjess, you stated "Racism and discriminatory practices continue." What objective data do you have to support this? Calling someone unqualified is a subjective interpretation of ...
May 23, 2012 | 01:37 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
golden eagle: Wow, my English was bad on the previous post. You know how it is on these iPhones.
May 23, 2012 | 12:30 PM
Bryant Signs Voter ID Bill
golden eagle: @Jess, I think the word you're looking for is "assassination". @Darryl, do we really know that the majority of MS'ians wanted this, when you consider that this was a ...
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