“[Yucatán through her eyes] is special and rare precisely because it is about a woman carving out her place in a realm heretofore thought to be inhabited only by rugged men wearing pith helmets and tall leather boots, sitting at their writing tables amid the ruins and smoking their pipes. Move over Stephens, Catherwood, Maudslay, Thompson, Morley, and all the other Old School Mayanists, and make room for Alice Dixon!” James R. McGoodwin, emeritus professor of anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder, August 24, 2011
Book design award– New Mexico Book Association, June 11, 2011. Southwest book design winners– Special Recognition: Jim’s Choice– Yucatán Through Her Eyes, by Lawrence Gustave Desmond. New Mexico Book Association
“Desmond’s accessible and well-written biography has clearly placed the fascinating and dynamic Alice Dixon Le Plongeon among the roster of accomplished Victorian women.” Christina Bueno review in Americas, Vol 66, No. 2, pp. 190-291, October 2009 [Prof. Christina Bueno is associate professor of history at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois.]
“…photography … alone is enough to make Alice Le Plongeon noteworthy. Biographer Desmond in his aim to create a full picture of this accomplished woman of the late Victorian period brings in her outstanding activity in other endeavors as well.” Review by Henry Berry on Amazon from Midwest Book Review, May 2009 [Henry Berry is a publishing consultant, book publicist and reviewer, literary agent, writing instructor, freelance writer, and editor located in Southport, Connecticut.]
“Desmond offers a rare insider’s perspective of early Mesoamerican archaeological fieldwork during the latter half of the 19th century. He has produced a fine biography of Alice Dixon Le Plongeon.”Review by Jim Feagins in Trowel Marks, Vol. 1, No. 2, P. 11, Spring, 2009 [Jim D. Feagins has carried out archaeological investigations and published extensively on the region of Kansas State.]
“Desmond weaves a historical narrative with Dixon’s photography, handwritten diaries, and notes, uncovering new insight into the life of one of the founders of Mesoamerican archaeology.” Santa Clara Magazine, Santa Clara University, P. 45, Fall, 2009
“Until now, Alice Dixon Le Plongeon has been … ignored … [thought to be] without accomplishments of her own, without an intellectual life, and without interests. The figure that emerges in Yucatán through her eyes is a very different one, just the opposite: that of a woman, as Lawrence Desmond documents well, determined to make a difference in the world.” Review by Lorena Careaga V. in Península, Vol. V, No. 1, pp. 135-141, 2010 [Prof. Lorena Careaga Viliesid is a professor of anthropology, and head of the Antonio Enríquez Savignac Library, Universidad del Caribe, Cancún, Mexico.]
“Desmond writes, ‘… [Alice] as a young, strong willed women, … had chosen to spend her life with Augustus. Or that she had manned the barricades against a Chan Santa Cruz Maya assault, ran excavation crews, photographed people and archaeological sites, received honors from the diplomatic corps in Mexico City, and lectured for more than twenty-five years about the ancient Maya and the people of Yucatán” (342).’”
“The value of this discovery, and this book, can therefore hardly be overestimated…” Review by Gesa Mackenthun in Contracorriente, A journal on social history and literature in Latin America, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 336-343, Winter, 2010 [Prof. Gesa Mackenthun (Dr. habil.) holds the professorship for American Literature and Culture Studies at Rostock University, Germany.]
“This biography is the first serious attempt to present a full account of her [Alice Dixon Le Plongeon] remarkable life. The volume is beautiful, thanks especially to the inclusion of 71 photographs that Alice and her husband Augustus took during their years of expeditions in Yucatán.” Review by Patience A. Schell in Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 857-859, 2010 [Prof. Patience A. Schell is senior lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies at Manchester University, UK.]
“[Alice's] voice and determination carries this book through to its conclusion. Bravery, wit, and careful observation inform every page. Maybe Alice Dixon Le Plongeon’s insistence that spirits communicate with the living was right after all.” Review by Terry Rugeley in Hispanic American Historical Review, May 2010 90 (2): 346-348 [Terry Rugeley is Presidential Professor of Latin American History at the University of Oklahoma.]
”[Alice's] voice and determination carries this book through to its conclusion. Bravery, wit, and careful observation inform every page. Maybe Alice Dixon Le Plongeon’s insistence that spirits communicate with the living was right after all.” ”… [Alice Dixon Le Plongeon] was a nineteenth-century world traveler, an accomplished photographer and an archaeologist at a time when those professions were closed to women.” Review by José Antonio Rodriguez in El Financiero, Mexico City, July 22, 2010 [José Antonio Rodríguez is a historian of photography, curator, and critic in Mexico City.]
“Larry writes about this young bride of 18 married to the adventurer Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, twenty years her senior … Alice kept a diary, which Larry has reproduced in its entirety, that in itself is astounding, and often downright comical.” Notice by Merle Greene Robertson in Merle’s Corner- The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Newsletter reprint from online archive, Fall, 2010 or Notice by Merle Greene Robertson in Merle’s Corner- The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Newsletter, online archive, Fall, 2010 [Dr. Merle Greene Robertson was a leading researcher of ancient Maya civilization, and received the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the government of Mexico.]
“This [biography] is the story of a truly remarkable woman of the nineteenth century.” Review by José Antonio Rodriguez in Alquimia, National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico, No. 40, pp. 86-87, 2011 [José Antonio Rodríguez is a historian of photography, curator, and critic in Mexico City.]
“From an anthropological point of view, Alice’s diary is a jewel…fascinating…this superb biographical book will appeal to scholars interested in the history of anthropology, gender, and scientific practice, as well as to the lay public.” Review by Apen Ruiz Martinez in the Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 67, No. 1, Spring, 2010 [Apen Ruiz Martinez is with the department of humanities at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain]
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