The topic of Mesoamerica in the Russian literature is represented by a few publications, of which the book by K. is one of the best; it correlates with the translation of Popol Vuh made by the author in 1959. K. begins with an outline of the geography and history of the Central American Region; then, he dwells in detail on the creation of writing, or rather, writing systems, of Mesoamerica, some of which at the time of publication of the book had not yet been deciphered. The author explains that our knowledge on the culture and mythology of those peoples goes back, to a large extent, to texts and records made in the colonial period, which creates certain difficulties with their interpretation. The history and development of mythology is described through a series of successive mythological complexes – the author counts a total of four: the initial mythological ideas brought in during the Paleolithic settlement of America; the first mythological system, attested everywhere and associated with the domestication and dissemination of corn (maize) as a cultivated plant; the second system, which originally arose among the Olmecs and then spread to other areas, which was associated with the cult of jaguar (the author suggests that this cult could be based on a transformed bear cult of the Paleolithic period); and the third system, which the arriving Europeans found, built on the cult of human blood, necessary to feed the gods and maintain the cosmic order. K. reconstructs the content of the mythology of each period and dwells in detail on literature, consistently examining prose, epic, drama, and lyrics with detailed textual analysis.