1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Berler's version of The Conquest of Mexico, November 30, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Conquest of Mexico: A Modern Rendering of William H. Prescott's History (Paperback)
The Conquest of Mexico by Beatrice Berler
The conquest of Mexico is a century and a half years old, and William Prescott originally wrote it. His version now is translated in 20 different languages and appears in over 200 additions. Beatrice Berler wrote a version, originally a three-volume set, to introduce Prescott's work to the average person. Berler sums up her work in an easy to comprehend book. Berler started her history career fifty five year ago at Amherst Collage taking a history of Spain class that introduced the original Conquest of Mexico. Berler want the audience to understand Mexico's landscape, climate and food sources, which is interesting how different it is from ours. The author informs us why Mexico was so desirable to the Spaniards. Berler does a good job letting us know that the Aztecs were not savage Indians like in the northern territory. The Aztecs were civilized and were not just savage animals free in the woods, they had rules and morals, they were controlled by an elected ruler, and had a Government, This was new and interesting to me. I like the descriptive ways Berler states the way the Aztecs fight. It's interesting the warriors fought to take prisoners not to kill. Their armor was made of thick cotton, which was hardly penetrated, with the weak weapons of the time. Berler has us understanding the technology of both Mexico and Spain. The richer people wore gold and silver helmets and the rest wore wooden helmet shaped like animal heads. I think the author is clear about who the Aztecs were and where they lived. Berler describes the Spaniards and when they sailed the Atlantic Ocean. It's interesting that they first landed on Cuba and took captures and claimed it. I like how the author explains the progress of moving to the mainland and communicating with the Indians, both friendly and aggressive. She briefly and to the point sums up the battles and outcomes in a good organized manner. I like the way Berler talks about conversations of convincing the Aztecs to take up their Spanish customs. Spain's determination to speak with Montezuma is clever and her discussion is informative and exciting, but is confusing where some events are taking place, because the places are unfamiliar Spanish names. It's interesting how Berler explains Montezuma's thoughts of the Spaniards. I like the way Cortez plans to get his men to stay and help him with his plans. The plans are excellent and very clever. Cortez is very talented and know what he wants to do. He disguised his plans and make great progress. Berler discusses the Tascalans and discusses their custom, lifestyle, and relation with the Aztecs, which is neat. I like how Berler describes Spain's tactics of meeting the enemies of Montezuma and planning to deal with them. I like the details of Cortez's move through Mexico and how the Indians saw Spain. The author does a good job describing Spain's battle tactics fighting the Indians. It is amazing how many different Indian tribes wanted to kill them and how many wanted to join the Spaniards. Berler describes in good detail the plans for both Spain and the other tribes' ideas of fighting for their beliefs. The author informs us how the Indians betrayed Spain and goes in detail what the consequences were. Berler explain, in an interesting way, the Indians views of the Spaniards, and what they did to try to change those views. She describes, in good detail, The Indians villages and why the Indians had an advantage at home. I like the way Berler stated the advantages of not being as far with technology. Berler is discribing Spain's goals and meeting with the main ruler of the Aztecs. She discribes the way all the cities were designed and set up, it sounds very beautiful. She discribes the ideas of Spain and the customs of the Aztec's ruler. She warns us about the possible outcomes that face Spain's men in great detail. She interprets the conversations with the Indians leaders in small detail. She informs us through the book what Spain was planning. The author discribes in good detail the process of Spain trying to control the capital and how he made it work. The author goes in allot of detail about the way Spain controlled the capital. Berler tells us about the negotiations and the thoughts and feelings from both the Spanish and the Mexicans. The outcomes of the battles for the capital was amazing compared to the ratio of Spaniards verses Aztecs. The author does a good job describing the battles with the army of different villages all under Montezuma's rule. The book is clear that the Indians were not as far as advanced as Spain and looses allot of men, with the help of diseases brought by the Spanish. This book seems to me that it is mainly looking through Spain's point of view, I guess because most of the Indians documents were lost or destroyed. It makes Spain seem they were hardly penetrated and the Indians never had a chance. I think if the Indians had better war leaders they would have won. I can say that this book informed me on about 95% more information than what I had learned in my collage American History class, mainly because there is only one paragraph that talks about them. My teacher talk more about them but they aren't in the United States of America, so I guess are irrelevant in that class. Overall The Conquest of Mexico, by Beatrice Berler is a very good book.
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