Conquistador : Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the last stand of the Aztecs / Buddy Levy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levy, Buddy, 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mexico--History--Conquest, 1519-1540.

Mexico.

History.

Cortés, Hernán, 1485-1547.

Cortés, Hernán.

Physical Description:

x, 429 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), color map ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Bantam Books, 2008.

Summary:

In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico with a roughshod crew of adventurers and the intent to expand the Spanish empire. Along the way, this brash and roguish conquistador schemed to convert the native inhabitants to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. In Tenochtitlán, the City of Dreams, Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, ruler of a complex and sophisticated civilization with fifteen million people, and commander of the most powerful military machine in the Americas. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astonishing military campaigns ever waged. Sometimes outnumbered thousands-to-one, Cortés repeatedly beat seemingly impossible odds. Journalist Levy meticulously researches the mix of cunning, courage, brutality, superstition, and finally disease that enabled Cortés and his men to survive.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Setting out for New Spain and the serendipitous gift of language

The battle with the Tabascans and the acquisition of La Malinche

Montezuma's message

The gambler stakes all : "either win the land, or die in the attempt"

Into the mountains

The massacre of Cholula

The city of dreams

City of sacrifice

Seizure of empire

Cortés and Montezuma

Spaniard versus Spaniard

The Festival of Toxcatl

Montezuma's ironic fate

La noche triste

"Fortune favors the bold"

"The great rash"

Return to the Valley of Mexico

The wooden serpent

Encirclement

The siege begins

Clash of empires

The last stand of the Aztecs.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [393]-411) and index.

ISBN:

9780553805383

055380538X

OCLC:

185056591