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Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
Written by Buddy Levy
Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
Description
It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish expire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán, Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, and commander of the most powerful military in the Americas. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astounding battles ever waged.
The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.
The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.
Reviews
A little hard to follow who's where at what ancient city but overall great book. Fascinating, though ultimately tragic, book about European desire to dominate and ruin other south and central native cultures. Just really hard to read about how we treated natives(and still do)
Well researched and balanced. I love how the author quotes primary sources as part of a well-written narrative. This book is a great blend between historical research and story telling. Although the events in this book are not easy to read (human sacrifice, cannibalism, civilian massacre, torture, etc.), they are necessary elements to the narrative, and show that both the conquistadors and the Aztecs were barbaric (the Conquistadors less so).
I would recommend this book. The book covers the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortez in rich detail. The book does well to include first-hand accounts from Bernal Diaz, narrating events such as the Aztec festival of xipe totec, the capture of Montezuma, and the final approach of Tenochtlan. The book is written in the form of a story and is a pleasure to read from beginning to end. I would read it again.
An amazing story given its due.This is a somewhat complex story but one of high interest and great adventure. It's almost hard to believe. Calling it an adventure may not be politically correct in light of the death of a significant culture, but that is how people at the time saw it and the end result is the birth of modern Mexico, a violent merger of cultures. As in River of Darkness Levy focuses on combat but also provides bigger picture and politics. One can see patterns being set that would replay well into the 20th century between Europeans and natives.
This book is well-written and informative. It feels like reading a novel based on a true story. Even if i already read a lot about this topic and watched so many documentaries already, it was still able to provide new things for me. An added bonus is that the book is both short and concise, so you won't have to worry about it becoming too tedious to read.
Vivid, fascinating, and completely engrossing.
Well written and concise tales of Cortez in New Spain (Mexico). Very readable and enjoyable.
Prescott's magisterial study remains the standard work on the conquest of the Aztec empire by Hernan Cortes. Thomas's is the standard modern study, incorporating scholarship since Prescott and abandoning Prescott's 19th-century biases. But you won't find find a better narrative history of this astonishing campaign than Buddy Levy's recent book -- superbly written and gripping from start to finish. No matter how many times you read the story of this surreal clash of empires and cultures, your mind simply boggles at the strangeness of it all, at the courage and brutality shown by both sides, and above all at the audaciousness of Cortes and the magnitude of what he accomplished in so short a time. It's stirring, heartbreaking, incredible stuff.
An amazing story, 350 pages of stuff you just couldn't make up. Incredible, larger-than-life people, environments, cities, events.Reads like a novel, highly recommended.
Well done, but you can't go wrong with the material. To me, the conquest of the Aztecs is the most fascinating war. The Spaniards were vastly outnumbered, but had superior firepower, strategy, tactics and political acumen. Maybe most importantly, the had better luck and went for the jugular. The Aztecs twice (!!) had Cortes captured, and rather than kill him immediately attempted to take him back to their temple so they could ritually kill him. Two lost chances.Other books on this, equally as fascinating are Bernal Diaz del Castillo's Conquest of Mexico and Leon-Portilla's The Broken Spears.Levy did an excellent job. Highly recommended.