Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico [Paperback]

Hugh Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 1995

THE UNPARALLELED HISTORY OF THE FALL OF OLD MEXICO

Drawing on newly discovered sources and writing with brilliance, drama, and profound historical insight, Hugh Thomas presents an engrossing narrative of one of the most significant events of Western history.

Ringing with the fury of two great empires locked in an epic battle, Conquest captures in extraordinary detail the Mexican and Spanish civilizations and offers unprecedented in-depth portraits of the legendary opponents, Montezuma and Cortés. Conquest is an essential work of history from one of our most gifted historians.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the author of The Spanish Civil War comes this epic history of the fall of the Aztec empire to Spain.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Digging into thousands of pages of legal testimony given in the 1520s by participants in Cortes's expedition against the Mexico of ancient Mesoamerica, Thomas revisits the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire. The result is a richer account of the personalities, events, and social setting of this momentous episode than currently exists in accessible form. The complex genealogical interweaving of Castilian and Mexican royal families, the intricacies of battle strategy and tactics, the labyrinthine political machinations, and the brutal imposition of external standards of behavior and belief--all are described in a gripping narrative by Thomas, a British academic. His sterling achievement is to illustrate the complex historical foundation of modern Mexico. Although the book is intended for a general audience, extensive chapter-by-chapter endnotes and an annotated bibliography of major sources reveal the depth of the author's scholarship. No library should be without this important contribution to Latin American history.
- William S. Dancey, Ohio State Univ., Columbus
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 7, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671511041
• ISBN-13: 978-0671511043
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > History > Americas > Mexico

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive description of another era, January 25, 2000

By 

Center Man "[e-mail]" (Norwich, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico (Paperback)

This would be worth a look simply because Thomas does what all good historians should: sink their readers deeply into past ages and former cultures by way of a fascinating story.

But even better . . .

Recent histories of the Spanish Conquest tend to emphasize the atrocities of the conquistadors while upholding the virtues of the indigenous peoples. While well-intentioned (and a needed corrective to chronicles written in the previous 100 years), the approach has an annoying tendency to demonize Europeans, turn the natives into statuary and drain all the drama from the past.

So I'm grateful for Hugh Thomas and his neo-revisionist history. The Spaniards are ultimately the heavies, but presented with all their complexities and ambitions on display (who knew Hernan Cortes could be so interesting?). They aren't completely malevolent.

Similarly, Thomas avoids the Howard Zinn/PC trap of turning America into Eden and Indians into children by detailing the delicate intertwining of politics and religion in the Mexican (aka Aztec) empire, by displaying the cruelty the Mexica could occasionally summon toward their subjects and by placing it all in the proper cultural context -- as with the Spaniards, you understand why they did what they did, even if you don't approve of it.

Wrap an exquisite narrative thread around the whole package and you've got a book for the ages.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story powerfully told, December 12, 2002

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico (Paperback)

I can't praise this book enough. The story of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico through Cortez is unbelievably compelling. Even so, Mr. Thomas writes brilliantly and tells this story better than I have ever seen, read, or heard it done. He brings life to all of the characters along the way including those that came before Cortez, those that he met and made allies along the way, those he turned into enemies, and especially Montezuma. The final battle for Tenochtitlan is frightening and heartbreaking.

This is history that reads like fiction. The world of Mexico before the Conquistadors is so foreign to the Western mind that it reads almost like fiction or fantasy. Yet it all happened, and Mr. Thomas tells it with power and passion. This is a book you owe it to yourself to read. Just amazing and wonderful.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing story told in fascinating detail, March 11, 2002

By 

M. A Michaud "michael_michaud" (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico (Hardcover)

...

This still is the best book in English on the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Far more than most historians, Thomas explores the interconnections among the leading personalities, both Spanish and Mexican, giving the reader a feeling for the noble and the devious aspects of these sixteenth century people. Politics and the exercise of power emerge as major themes. The author brings out the contingency of history through his analysis of key events that might have gone another way. There was nothing inevitable about Cortes' ultimate success; if he had not been so clever and ruthless, he might have ended up as a human sacrifice in an Aztec temple. As it was, more than half of the conquistadors died, a casualty rate that no modern army would tolerate. The six hundred page text is supplemented by useful appendices. This book would be even better if it were more fully illustrated.