Examines Olmec art, society, and religious beliefs. Traces the efflorescence and decline of the Olmecs, but insists on the basic unity of all Mesoamerican civilization.

"My overriding concern in this book has been, not to write a historical account of the theories and methods current at various times, and used by different researchers, but to pass in review the sequence of accretions to the store of knowledge, while at the same time giving some attention to those errors which often delay this process."--The introduction.