Few images hold an active claim on the imaginations of countless generations, but the Plumed Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl, has endured through 5,000 years of Mesoamerican history. Visualized as part bird and part snake and also in human form, this benevolent god remained a potent symbol of creation from the time of the ancient Olmec to the Mexican revolution. Quetzalcoatl took root ten years ago in the imagination of biographer Neil Baldwin when he toured the sites of Mexico. The result of Baldwin's research into Mexico's mythological figure is a tour through the archaeological treasures of Mexico, a biography of myth, and a cultural history.