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Summary: Like Tenochtitlan,Thomas has delivered a historic monolith.
Review: 'Like a song you were born Montezuma , like a flower you came to bloom on the earth' so echo the words of an ancient Nauhatl poem .In Hugh Thomas 'The Conquest of Mexico' here is a book that finally delivers the true insight in to the lives and actions that unfolded five hundred years ago.Thomas skillfully weaves his characters in to a unfolding plot.We are transported to the life of the ancient Mexica in there demi-paradise island of Tenochtitlan , there we learn about the origins and there quest to serve there dietys Huitzipochtli and Tezcatlipoca with the offerings of songs and blood.Their world lived in total isolation until the early part of the sixteenth century , when by chance the doorway that Columbus had opened was to allow oppourtunist Spanish conquistadors route to explore the rich frontiers of the New world.Such men like Heran Cortes who as 'A man born in Brocade' lived to fulfil his destiny and sail to the land of the west in search of his fortune.Thomas gives us the background of Cortes troubled upbringing and his cunning eye for oppourtunity , it was such invention that enabled this remarkable captain to dupe the governor of Cuba Diego Velasquez to let him sail and once arrived with his men dissolve his orders to settle the land not under the governors name , but to conquer under Don Carlos and God.On route he picked up valuable people to aid him on his quest, the captive Geronimo de Aguilar who had lived with the Maya and the native interpretress 'Mallinalli' who was to be called 'La Malinche'.Cortes etched his way ever so slowly towards the city of MontezumaII ,he convinced the waring adversaries of the great empire the Tlaxcalans to join him.In Tenochtitlan the fragile lord had forseen great unrest and ruin a year back when his priests had claimed to have seen the 'The floating trees'with bearded men on board.It was such doom that Thomas evokes so splendidly and when the Spanish fianlly arrive at the magnificent causeways , one believes the Mexica empire is already heading for a ! cataclysmic end.The Spanish stayed for a year and a half on and off, they commited violations against there host, the crazed Pedro de Alvarado commited the worst crime and from that point on the Castillians had no choice but to fight for thier lives.So it was when Montezuma who had perished the then heir-apparent Cuauhtemoc stood before the Caudillo and asked him to end his life, so ended the harmony that once was. It is with eurdition and poignacy that Thomas moves us like a Mexican libation to there gods with his account of the conquest. Perhaps the finest account to date on this subject.
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Summary: An astonishing story told in fascinating detail
Review: ...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.
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: A wonderful account of one of the most intriguing events in history. Mr. Thomas presents Cortes and Montezuma as real people, of their time in history, without any of the white devil versus noble savage bull. Yes, it is very detailed, with exhaustive references, but very much worth the effort. Educate yourself. Read this book. Thank you.
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Summary: Exhaustive book
Review: Hugh Thomas forever banishes to the trash heap of history the notion that the native peoples of America simply rolled over and succumbed to the onslaught of sickness and Spanish swords. The final fight for Tenochtitlan looks less like the last gasp of a stone-age empire, than a dark portent of the cruelties of Stalingrad. Thomas, at complete odds with most his contemporaries in academia, presents a refreshingly balanced picture of two empires in confrontation. Heroes and villains appear among both Spaniards and Mexica, but Thomas avoids the temptation to beat one or the other over the head in the kind of revisionist name-calling into which most academic historians dealing with native America have devolved. Thomas's history of Cortez and Montezuma is fine stuff indeed, and is a rich and brilliant example to all--specialists, generalists, and lay readers alike--of what good history writing looks like.
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Summary: An amazing story powerfully told
Review: 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.
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Summary: An amazing story powerfully told
Review: 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.
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Summary: A long but very satisfying book
Review: So it has hundred of pages. A quarter of it is just notes and stuff. And it is the tale of the barbaric take over of a people that still unjustly pays the price today. And the book does not hide the misery. Depressing in advance. Get over it and read this truly excellent history book. To say that it reads just like an epic novel would be pushing it, but be assured that it is written as close to a tale it can get and once you get into it, even knowing the end will not stop you from going on and on. Certainly new material on the epic of the conquest of Mexico will come up, new archeological evidence perhaps, a brand new codex even? But as you read this book you will know that this is pretty much the definitive book. Well arranged, informative if not good looking maps, complete, it is also an excellent reference book. In addition it makes you think beyond the what-if usual questions that one does consider when reading such a book. You think about all the myths that are created about historical events, even today. You think at how division can ruin even the mightiest empires. And how often might is illusion. You think at all the misery that was brought to a country. And best of all you just cannot but be amazed, again, at how the fate of civilizations eventually rests in the hands of so few people, here of Cortes, a couple of followers, Montezuma, a couple of followers and a few of his own unhappy vassals. Sometimes when we read the paper in the morning we wonder if things really have changed that much......
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Summary: Superb!
Review: This book is a history of the Spanish conquest of the Mexica (Aztec)people during the first decades of the sixteenth century. Although Thomas' writing style is that of the typical historian, the story is nothing short of spellbinding. Thomas presents a balanced account of one of the greatest adventure stories in human history. The central character is Hernan Cortez, one of the most complex, brilliant and cruel men who ever walked the planet. Thomas also manages to provide a balanced account of Cortez' counterpart, Montezuma, and his religious, political and economic culture. If Steven Spielberg or someone of equal talent were to make a movie of this story it would certainly be one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. Dense but spellbinding. My hat is off to Thomas for a job well done. Hightly recommended reading
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Summary: WORTHY UPDATE OF PRESCOTT'S CLASSIC
Review: This book is a history of the Spanish conquest of the Mexica (Aztec)people during the first decades of the sixteenth century. Although Thomas' writing style is that of the typical historian, the story is nothing short of spellbinding. Thomas presents a balanced account of one of the greatest adventure stories in human history. The central character is Hernan Cortez, one of the most complex, brilliant and cruel men who ever walked the planet. Thomas also manages to provide a balanced account of Cortez' counterpart, Montezuma, and his religious, political and economic culture. If Steven Spielberg or someone of equal talent were to make a movie of this story it would certainly be one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. Dense but spellbinding. My hat is off to Thomas for a job well done. Hightly recommended reading
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Summary: Impressive description of another era
Review: 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.
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