Description: In the mid-1980s, Kwang-chih Chang proposed that China's first civilization did not evolve according to the conventional Mesopotamian model and argued instead for a new paradigm for understanding the origins of civilization. In this collection, Maya and Near Eastern studies specialists engage in a stimulating debate of Chang's thesis.
Review Quotes: What we see here...is intellectual interaction as it happened--something that is characteristic of verbal interaction but is rarely seen in the written word. Given the high caliber of the contributors, this conversational quality gives the book unusual interest.-- "Journal of Anthropological Research"