Mesoamerican Architecture as Cultural Symbol is one of the latest in a series of recent works on architecture in ancient Middle America. Jeff Kowalski’s volume joins The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs, by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews (Scribner, 1998), and Stephen Houston’s edited volumes Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture (Dumbarton Oaks, 1999), and Royal Courts of the Maya (with Takeshi Inomata, Westview Press, 2000). But unlike these volumes, which focus only on the Maya, Mesoamerican Architecture as Cultural Symbol addresses architecture as a carrier of cultural meaning in most of the major traditions of Mesoamerica, including treatments of the Olmec, Maya, West Mexican, El Tajin, Xochicalco, Tula, Mitla, and Aztec cultures. The wide focus of this volume and its theoretically robust approach are sure to make it a touchstone in pre-Columbian studies. An introductory chapter establishes the theoretical framework of the volume and also explains the title. Mesoamerica is that geographical region in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras wherein all the ancient peoples shared traits such as the ballgame, complex calendars, hieroglyphic writing and books, ritual bloodletting and human sacrifice, complex pantheons of deities, organized priesthoods, and state level society...