It is tempting to simply state, “You need this book; it changes the field of archaeology,” but that would deny me the pleasure of explaining why even the proverbial “dirt archaeologist” needs to read this extended epigraphic treatise on Classic Maya political organization and to internalize its messages. Simon Martin has seamlessly melded his encyclopedic knowledge of inscriptions with a contemporary perspective on political anthropology, especially the increasingly problematic concept of the state. What emerges in this lengthy but readable volume is the closest thing archaeologists working in the Americas have to an Indigenous perspective on configurations of power from AD 150–900. It will not only be indispensable to Mayanists but also essential to other scholars interested in Indigenous political systems, ideologies, and structures of governance.

Such a book could not have been written any earlier than now: it marks a turning point in studies of Indigenous cultures of the Americas. With this book, Mayanists definitively become historical archaeologists. This is not just because of the historical particulars of certain sites that have been known for decades; Martin's exhaustive treatment of how words create culture, and especially how those words and cultures were shared across the lowlands during the Classic period, compels archaeologists and epigraphers to use these historical records in a much more profound manner. He provides an entire hierarchical structure of administrative titles, found across the Maya area, that not only reflected but also created power sharing and the conceptualization of polities. Martin also summarizes Classic terminology that illuminates how “royal power was suffused with religiosity” (p. 143), informing scholarship on how royal authority was propped up by religious performance and on how the very nature of the way in which Maya people saw the sacred was perpetually intertwined with the secular. His discussion underscores how binary Western categories such as sacred/secular are increasingly unhelpful for understanding Indigenous cultures of the Americas. Although some archaeologists working in the Maya area continue to insist that epigraphy has little to offer their research, this volume lays those tired assertions to rest. It establishes firmly that the ancient Maya left a body of literature that speaks to the very nature of social complexity. Martin's elucidation of this canon makes it impossible to justify setting aside Indigenous voices any longer.

Part I includes chapters on “Modelling the Maya,” which reviews the history of scholarship on Classic Maya political organization; “On Archaeopolitics,” which positions the current study within the history of debates about the evolution of the state and centralized authority; and “Worlds in Words,” a powerful articulation of the “viability of using [writing] to understand long-extinct political systems” (p. 48). By the end of Part I, the reader knows exactly where Martin stands in terms of historical arguments about Maya political structures, the recursive turn in contemporary political science and political anthropology, and the usefulness of texts to inform us about not only individual events but also networks of power and allegiance.

Part II, “Epigraphic Data on Classic Maya Politics,” constitutes almost half the book, with historic details from the epigraphic record organized into discussions of key institutions of power within Classic Maya society. Its seven chapters, each with associated case studies, detail how Maya elites wrote about their relationships with one another and with the institution of royalty. Chapter 5, “Identity,” reviews the many titles, roles, and ranks conveyed in the inscriptions as a form of institutionalized authority with impact on all levels of society. Chapter 6, “Constitution,” emphasizes how language was part of the active processes by which Maya nobility created and maintained political community. We learn that the familiar terms ch'ok (“youth”), ch'een (“watery holy cave”), and hul (“to arrive”) were used to convey changes in status and sanctioned authority. Chapter 7, “Transcendence,” delves into how writing and art were shaped by and in turn shaped spiritual beliefs within all of Maya society. These texts do not discuss theology per se, but rather how the sacred sanctioned royal power and thus how Maya people perpetuated divine authority and naturalized inequality. Chapter 8, “Matrimony,” is the most comprehensive discussion of this fundamental form of alliance building in the literature; it engages with issues of power through institutions of kinship and how Maya elites used kinship to connect polities and dynasties. Chapter 9, “Conflict,” flows directly from the discussion of alliance building in the previous chapter to address the language used when competition between polities could not be resolved in any manner other than war. Continuing his consideration of external polity relations, Martin titles Chapter 10 “Hierarchy.” In it, he explores how polities recorded their involvement in larger political configurations through terminology that stated the possession, oversight, or supervision of other royalty. Part II concludes with Chapter 11, “Coda,” which explores how the diminishment of written records in the ninth century can help inform models of the social transformations underway at the end of the Classic period. Martin's observation that these late inscriptions concern foundational aspects of the literate tradition such as calendrical ceremonies and ritual performance, rather than historical particulars, illuminates the role of language in cultural preservation, especially during times of social crisis.

In Part III, the final section, Martin returns to political anthropology, drawing on comparative literature to place the patterns he has identified into a global context. “Classic Maya Networks,” “Defining Classic Maya Political Culture,” and “Hegemony in Practice and Theory” synthesize the details presented in Part II and draw on substantial statistical and distributional analyses of the patterns identified earlier. Few books have attempted such an overarching panorama on Maya politics and culture. Given that this section rests on the monumental corpus of data presented earlier, both epigraphic and archaeological, it offers a fascinating and largely convincing perspective.

The significance of this work hardly diminishes despite one omission noticeable to this reviewer. Why did some polities not use writing? Why are there areas of the Classic Maya world that did not engage in this powerful form of culture building, even as they shared architectural, funerary, mythological, and dietary practices with other Maya people? That is a question we can hope to answer now that Martin has so convincingly made the case for literacy as a tool of Maya complexity.

Already accumulating accolades and awards, Ancient Maya Politics brings Maya Studies into conversation not only with political anthropology but also Indigenous Studies, historical archaeology, comparative politics, and many other fields. This is a transformative work and a genuinely important one.