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Title details for Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend - Available

Fifth Sun

A New History of the Aztecs

by Camilla Townsend
ebook
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In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story—and the story of what happened afterwards—has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars. For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured. This engaging revisionist history of the Aztecs, told through their own words, explores the experience of a once-powerful people facing the trauma of conquest and finding ways to survive, offering an empathetic interpretation for experts and non-specialists alike.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 4, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780190673086

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780190673086
      • File size: 1048 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      September 13, 2019

      When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519 to begin the devastating and long process of conquest over the Aztec populations, there was a thriving world already in existence that was eventually suppressed by the invaders. With the goal of examining the Aztec's history before and after Spanish influence, Townsend (history, Rutgers Univ.) investigates five complex aspects of the time: Aztec politics, moral philosophy, the initial reactions of Aztecs to the Spanish explorers, the lives of immediate survivors after various plagues, as well as surviving generations who struggled against economic and prejudicial challenges. Townsend successfully meets his goal by providing vivid narratives of different historical figures within this period in Aztec history. These accounts are based in reliable, academic research and told in a way that demonstrates empathy while calling attention to prevailing tendencies in historical interpretation by the greater scholarly community.

      VERDICT Recommended for college students and academics with an interest in history, Latin American history, Aztec history, and the Mexico's colonial past.--Monique Martinez, Univ. of North Georgia Lib., Dahlonega

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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