Why read Victors and Vanquished?

Book cover of Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Fall of the Mexica Empire

Book description

Focusing on the major events and personalities during the fall of the Mexica empire, Victors and Vanquished helps you go deeper into this historical episode by revealing changing attitudes toward European expansionism.

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Victors and Vanquished as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Matthew Restall

Author

After reading one or more of my other recommendations, you might be ready for some primary sources. But the obvious, well-known sources written in the 16th century—such as those by Hernando Cortés and Bernal Díaz—are very long and tend to be misleadingly presented as straight-forward eye-witness accounts. In fact, conquistador accounts are full of inventions and distortions. Victors and Vanquished offers excerpts from such sources (Cortés and Díaz included), but with helpful introductions, carefully selected and juxtaposed with textual—and even some visual—sources by Aztecs and other Nahuas (the Indigenous peoples of Central Mexico). This is intended for the classroom, as…

From Matthew's list on the Aztecs and Spanish Conquistadors.