Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest [Hardcover]

Matthew Restall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0195160770 | ISBN-13: 978-0195160772 | Edition: First Edition

Here is an intriguing exploration of the ways in which the history of the Spanish Conquest has been misread and passed down to become popular knowledge of these events. The book offers a fresh account of the activities of the best-known conquistadors and explorers, including Columbus, Cort�s, and Pizarro.
Using a wide array of sources, historian Matthew Restall highlights seven key myths, uncovering the source of the inaccuracies and exploding the fallacies and misconceptions behind each myth. This vividly written and authoritative book shows, for instance, that native Americans did not take the conquistadors for gods and that small numbers of vastly outnumbered Spaniards did not bring down great empires with stunning rapidity. We discover that Columbus was correctly seen in his lifetime--and for decades after--as a briefly fortunate but unexceptional participant in efforts involving many southern Europeans. It was only much later that Columbus was portrayed as a great man who fought against the ignorance of his age to discover the new world. Another popular misconception--that the Conquistadors worked alone--is shattered by the revelation that vast numbers of black and native allies joined them in a conflict that pitted native Americans against each other. This and other factors, not the supposed superiority of the Spaniards, made conquests possible.
The Conquest, Restall shows, was more complex--and more fascinating--than conventional histories have portrayed it. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest offers a richer and more nuanced account of a key event in the history of the Americas.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to historical consensus, the Spanish conquest of the New World was a cataclysm in which superior European technology and organization overwhelmed Native American civilizations. In this daring revisionist critique, Penn State historian Restall describes a far more complex process in which Indians were central participants on both sides of the struggle. Far from regarding the Spaniards as gods, Restall argues, Indians offered a variety of shrewd, pragmatic responses to the invaders while advancing their own political agendas. Indeed, given that the conquistadors were vastly outnumbered by their Indian allies, the Conquest was in many respects a civil war between natives. Nor did Indian societies fall apart at one blow: independent Mayan polities, for example, persisted into the 19th century. Even under Spanish rule, Indians continued to live in self-governing communities, where they maintained their own languages, cultures and leaders who had considerable clout with the colonial administration. Drawing on Spanish, Native American and West African accounts of the Conquest, academic studies and even Hollywood movies, Restall examines the paradigm of European triumph and Indian "desolation" as it evolved from the conquistador's self-serving narratives to contemporary interpretations by such writers as Jared Diamond and Kirkpatrick Sale. Rejecting the implicit juxtaposition of "subhuman" Indians with "superhuman" Europeans, Restall asserts instead that, through war and epidemic, native societies retained much of their autonomy and cohesion, and "turned calamity into opportunity." Restall's provocative analysis, wide-ranging scholarship and lucid prose make this a stimulating contribution to the debate on one of history's great watersheds. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A work of this kind brings good scholarship together with the arguments and contributions of the author and puts it between two covers, where we can have our whole feast on Conquest history. Well conceived, researched, and written, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest is a valuable synthesis of this important event in human history and a good candidate for the colonial Latin American history and historiography classroom."--Patricia Lopes Don, San Jose State University

"A daring revisionist critique.... Restall's provocative analysis, wide-ranging scholarship and lucid prose make this a stimulating contribution to the debate on one of history's great watersheds."--Publishers Weekly

"Compelling and revisionist.... Demonstrates that from the beginning of the Spanish Conquest, the way of life that has evolved in the Americas was shaped in concert by diverse peoples of European, Native American, and African descent."--Library Journal

"Matthew Restall is one of the leading pioneers of a new approach to the history of European colonization in the Americas, re-integrating indigenous perspectives and exploiting indigenous sources. The conquest of Mexico puzzled even participants in it and generated legends which have continued to hold historians spellbound: Restall subjects them to re-examination with a ferociously critical intellect, a historically disciplined imagination, and exceptional command of the sources. By unpicking the myths, Restall makes possible, for the first time, a believable reconstruction of what really happened."--Felipe Fern�ndez-Armesto

"Restall's simple prose is deceptive because he confronts and overturns hoary myths of some of the most controversial and complex aspects of the conquest of Spanish America. Based on a deep knowledge of the Spanish and indigenous sources, he clearly shows how the myths of Spanish prowess and Indian inabilities were created, and why and how they have been perpetuated. This is revisionism at its best." --Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale University

"This is a work of clear significance for the understanding not just of the Conquest itself, but also the means by which we have mythologized it. Restall displays both wit and erudition as he reveals the invention and persistence of some key images of the conquistadores. Seven Myths is a scholarly yet accessible text that should be required reading for any course that touches upon colonial conquests and the culture of the Americas."--Neil L. Whitehead, University of Wisconsin-Madison

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition edition (July 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195160770
• ISBN-13: 978-0195160772
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting points, January 3, 2007

By 

Xavier E. Garcia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (Paperback)

Interesting book with seven excellent points of the Spanish Conquest. For those who have done any kind of research into this period of history, would for the most part, agree to Mr. Restall's points. I was curious to see his explanations to the myths and his justifications. I found it enjoyable reading as a whole and agreed to most of his myths. This book would be more meaningful and insightful to a reader who has done some previous reading in this area.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good revisionist book, September 26, 2007

By 

Kenneth E. Painter Jr. (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (Paperback)

Though I had to read this for a college course, I still found this book fascinating. I really thought that Restall's arguements were sound and his conclusions were perfect. I especially found it intersting that he talks about black conquistadors. That is something that is not discussed in history books. The myth of just the white conquistador has definitely been debunked. He does a superb job with this book by using the conquistadors own words. I definitely recommend it.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underscoring seven key myths and the misconceptions, November 15, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (Hardcover)

Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall (Associate Professor of Latin American History, Women's Studies, and Anthropology, and Director of Latin American Studies, Pennsylvania State University) presents an informed and informative survey of the events of war, dominance, and assimilation associated with the Spanish conquest of the New World and which have all too often been misinterpreted or skewed down through the ages. Underscoring seven key myths and the misconceptions and fallacies surrounding them, Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest unravels oversimplified and all too commonly held precepts to show the Spanish Conquest as a far more tangled and complex web of events and motives than popular memory or the remnants of high school textbooks convey.