Product Description

Hugh Thomas' account of the collapse of Montezuma's great Aztec empire under the onslaughts of Cortes' conquistadors is one of the great historical works of our times. A thrilling and sweeping narrative, it also bristles with moral and political issues. After setting out from Spain - against explicit instructions - in 1519, some 500 conquistadors destroyed their ships and fought their way towards the capital of the greatest empire of the New World. When they finally reached Tenochtitlan, the huge city on lake Texcoco, they were given a courtly welcome by Montezuma, who believed them to be gods. Their later abduction of the emperor, their withdrawl and the final destruction of the city make the Conquest one of the most enthralling and tragic episodes in world history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #660571 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 848 pages

From the Publisher
'His story of the conquest, how it happened and why it happened, carries total conviction. He makes what seems like a miracle comprehensible.' J. H. Plumb, Financial Times

About the Author
Hugh Thomas (Lord Thomas of Swynnerton) is the author of The Spanish Civil War, Cuba, Armed Truce and The Unfinished History of the World as well as many other books and articles.

Customer Reviews

Literary history at its best
To those who have a passing interest in Mexico and the Spanish conquest, this book cannot be too highly recommended. It is amazingly thorough, is based on incredibly wide-ranging research, and is written with an elegance and grace which belies the extraordinary welter of facts through which Thomas has to sift.

The character and personalities of all the various players come to the fore, and Thomas also does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of those times, as well as in adding little details like the weather and the scenery to give a real sense of what those terrible years were like.

In short, this is just a brilliant book - balanced, authoritative, erudite, and surprisingly moving - if you have any interest in Mexico you should read it. It is probably the best work of history that I have read.

Excellent. Detailed yet readable. Dispels the myths.
Thomas is an extraordinairily accesible historian.

Although a little slow in the first two chapters, which Thomas uses to set out the background of the Spaniards in Cuba & Hispaniola, this is a brilliant account of the conquest of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes. Thomas' research is complete and he does an excellent job of explaining how so few subjugated so many. Thomas makes a great job of weeding out the chaff from the other accounts you might be familiar with.

Rich with relevant context (politics back in Spain, the economics of the Carribean, legal issues to do with the classification of the native indians) this account is probably the best ever written. It makes an excellent story, even though the approach is thorough and absolutely non-fictional.