Aztec Warrior: AD 1325-1521 [Paperback]

John Pohl (Author), Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Warrior | Publication Date: June 25, 2001

According to one popular image, the Aztec army was a ruthless and efficient war machine, that established an empire by convincingly overwhelming its neighbors, sacrificing thousands to bloodthirsty gods along the way. From a contrasting perspective, its native warriors were no match for the modern warring methods of Cortés' greatly outnumbered Spaniards, who decisively defeated them. The reality of the Aztec warrior's ability and effectiveness lies somewhere between those two extremes, as this title makes clear. By examining the experiences of a hypothetical individual, Cuauhtli, this meticulously researched book shows that the history of Aztec warfare is much richer and far more complex than previously understood, and reveals the close relationship between social and military matters in Aztec society.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Insights into the real lives of history's fighting men, packed with full colour illustrations, highly detailed cutaways, exploded artwork of weaponry and armour, and action-packed battle scenes.

About the Author

John Pohl is a research archeologist at UCLA. He is an eminent authority on American Indian civilizations and has directed numerous archeological excavations in Mexico, Central America, Canada, and the United States. He has published extensively on subjects ranging from human origins to the rise of the Aztec empire and specializes in the decipherment of ancient pictographic writing systems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (June 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841761486
• ISBN-13: 978-1841761480
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > History > Ancient > Aztec

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aztec Army revealed, May 4, 2004

By 

Manuel Aguilar, PhD (Los Angeles, California, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aztec Warrior: AD 1325-1521 (Paperback)

Fascinating... this is without a doubt one of the most thorough basic introduction ever written to the organization of the ancient Aztec army. Relying heavily on original scholarly works, documentary sources, codices, and museum collections, as well as expert reconstructions, the author has written an enthralling account of the life of a typical warrior as he works his way up through the ranks of command. The illustrations are amazingly detailed and illustrate exactly how Aztec uniforms were designed and constructed. An essential work for students, artists, museum exhibitors, costume designers etc. Hollywood take notice, this is the real story here! Osprey picked a hot one with Pohl who has lived and worked in Mexico for over twenty-five years. He is a leading authority on this subject as well as Curator and Lecturer of Ancient Art of the Americas at the Princeton University Art Museum. As a professor, I've found this book appropriate for classes in everything from Archaeology, Art History to Chicano Studies at my university. More over, I have used it as a reference for an encyclopedic book I am presently writing about Aztec Civilization.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Concise and detailed, October 17, 2005

By 

Derek Scanlan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aztec Warrior: AD 1325-1521 (Paperback)

Mesoamerican history can often be confusing. The ally of one day quickly became the enemy of the next. This book was somehow able to cut through that without sacrificing any of the detail. The end result is a very solid and informative account of these warriors and the wars they fought in.

0 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not that Great, March 4, 2004

By 

G. Gurrola "jlgurrola" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Aztec Warrior: AD 1325-1521 (Paperback)

At first i was very excited about the topic. But the book doesn't deliver.

Maybe good for a second grader... some illustrations o.k. but i had a problem with the artist description of the soldiers... some illustrations make the warriors look like old men in pampers... all the warriors are depicted as old

some biased eurocentric...