A fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the lines people have drawn on maps, by the 'charming and outstandingly nerdish' author of The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything.

Maya peoples have long dominated southern Mesoamerica, an area stretching from the lowland coast of the Yucatán Peninsula to the highland mountains of southern Guatemala. While never a unified people, they gave rise to a great civilization with a dynamic set of beliefs and stories that varied between groups and retellings. To the Maya these have always been more than fireside tales: their myths formed the foundation of their culture, weaving together their ancestral and primordial pasts into...