Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God [Hardcover]

Neil Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Few images hold an active claim on the imaginations of countless generations, but the Plumed Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl, has endured through 5,000 years of Mesoamerican history. Visualized as part bird and part snake and also in human form, this benevolent god remained a potent symbol of creation from the time of the ancient Olmec to the Mexican revolution. Quetzalcoatl took root ten years ago in the fertile imagination of seasoned biographer Neil Baldwin when he toured the sites of Mexico. The result of Baldwins research into Mexicos mythological figure is a fascinating tour through the archaeological treasures of Mexico, an unusual biography of myth, and a detailed cultural history beautifully illustrated with nearly 100 photos and illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"He was the wind, he was the guide, the roadsweeper of the rain gods, of the masters of water, of those who brought rain."

So wrote the Spanish priest Bernardo de Sahagún of the pale-skinned Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, who, Mexican mythology had it, left his homeland but promised his people that he would one day return to them from the eastern sea. Neil Baldwin, the author of biographies of Thomas Edison and Man Ray, offers an intriguing life of the god--a biography, that is, of Quetzalcoatl as viewed by the Mexican people before and after the European conquest. In doing so, he captures the feel of the Mexican places in which Quetzalcoatl held sway: the temples and pyramids of Teotihuacán, the great fortresses of Mitla and Monte Albán, the ball courts of Chichén Itzá. He also provides a convincing portrait of Aztec and other ancient Mesoamerican lifeways, inviting his readers to share the "fear and terror" those people felt when they entered the god's sacred precincts. Baldwin's sympathetic readings of indigenous texts, coupled with his easy style, make Legends of the Plumed Serpent a fine introduction to ancient Mexico; his account of the god's fortunes after the arrival of the Europeans will also be of interest to students of comparative mythology and religion. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Baldwin, acclaimed biographer of Edison, Man Ray and William Carlos Williams, jettisoned his "resolutely Eurocentric" outlook 10 years ago, when he first visited Mexico. Mingling travelogue, history and a profound meditation on the clash between Mesoamerican and European settler civilizations, his magnificently illustrated new book is a stunning feat of cross-cultural understanding. At its heart lies the myth of the Plumed Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl?central to the Maya, Aztec, Toltec, Zapotec, Mixtec and nearly every other formative Mexican culture?whose temples, sculptures, sacred hymns, poems, rituals and legends celebrated this feathered god as a redemptive hero, bestower of civilization. Criss-crossing cultures and landscapes, Baldwin charts the Plumed Serpent's metamorphosis as a unifying symbol for the ancient Mexican diaspora, as a rallying point for militant resistance to Spanish colonizers and as touchstone in the struggle to construct a creole identity under Spanish rule. Symbol of hope and renewal, Quetzalcoatl was reimagined by 1920s humanist essayists and philosophers like Alfonso Reyes and Martin Luis Guzman, by followers of revolutionary martyr Emiliano Zapata, by obsessed novelist D.H. Lawrence, muralists Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, modernist painter Rufino Tamayo and by a new generation of contemporary Mexican artists. Besides exploring all these developments with empathy and insight, Baldwin includes a riveting, dramatic account of Hernan Cortes's conquest of Aztec ruler Moctezuma and its devastating aftermath. He also devotes a jolting chapter to "the Indian problem," which is how Mexico's federalist rulers looked upon the native peoples who throughout the 19th century made up more than 60% of the population, a harshly exploited, silent majority. Breathtakingly illustrated with 100 color photographs, engravings, codices and paintings, Baldwin's narrative is both an engaging personal odyssey and a bold reclamation of a cultural landscape.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891620037
• ISBN-13: 978-1891620034
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,584,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessible knowledge that opens the horizons, January 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating book which tells you in the most pleasurable way the history of Mexico and how one enduring symbol, the plumed serpent, connects ancient Mexico with modern Mexico. Great illustrations matched by a restrained text makes this a delight to read.

4.0 out of 5 stars reveiw of book, December 26, 2010

By 

awesome - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God (Hardcover)

didn't read it yet though i skimmed it and it seems to be a very good portal to the information concerning the Quetzalcoatl myth and of the structures and geography relating to it. all in all i feel as though it is through with the touch of a man with a personal affinity with this astounding story.

very found of this book and the Quetzalcoatl topic look forward to reading it.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars probably good, March 21, 2005

By 

tezcatlipoca "nahuat'l war god" (quintana roo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God (Hardcover)

this is a response to the garulous 'not good' review above.
actually quetzalcoatl breaks down into two nahuat'l words;quetzal for the beautiful iridescent emerald feathered bird of the exact same name,and coatl which means snake or serpent.
a literal translation would be no other then the obvious bird-snake.I don't think any one would seriously be insulted by the aproximation given in the title,inasmuch as it is the de facto english language denomination of said mexica entitiy.
btw:mexicas never thought of themselves as 'aztecs',which it's an posterior and sort of foreign,also intentionaly misleading name,but that doesn't seem to bother anyone.