Bird of Life Bird of Death Author:Jonathan Evan Maslow The resplendent Quetzal is a bird of such incredible beauty that for two hundred years European naturalists thought it was a fabrication of the American aborigines. It was a bird so sacred to the ancient Maya that to kill one was a capital crime. Unable to live in captivity, the Quetzal symbolized freedom for several thousand years. And in searc... more »h of this rare, fabulous creature, naturalist Jonathan Maslow began a daring odyssey through Guatemala, one of the most repressive nations on earth.
Beautifully written, fascinating, and often chilling, Maslow's account traces the history of the Quetzal and the Guatemalan people from the heights of classical Mayan civilization to the depths of depredation today... where the Bird of Life is dying, and ominously the Bird of Death, the vulture, is flourishing on the carrion of a troubled land.« less