Why read We People Here?

Book cover of We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico

Book description

Historians are concerned today that the Spaniards' early accounts of their first experiences with the Indians in the Americas should be balanced with accounts from the Indian perspective. 'We People Here' reflects that concern, bringing together important and revealing documents written in the Nahuatl language in sixteenth-century Mexico. James Lockhart's…

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Why read it?

1 author picked We People Here as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Camilla Townsend

Author

There are several books purporting to contain Nahuatl (or Aztec language) accounts of the conquest of Mexico.

This one by a late great scholar from UCLA is by far the best. His helpful introduction sets the scene, and the careful translations bring us right into the center of the action. The Spaniards may have thought they were impressing the Indians, but in this account by the Indians, we learn that they were sometimes laughing at the Europeans!

From Camilla's list on The best books on the Aztecs by people who once knew an Aztec.