This is an extremely well written account of the conquest of the Aztec empire by Cortes and his allies. The author does a very good job of conveying the complete "otherness" of the Aztec beliefs and customs and the Spaniards reaction to them. In many ways it was a clash of two barbaric cultures----both fated to not understand one another. The culture of the Americas developed in isolation for thousands of years and in many ways it appears to us like a culture from a science fiction novel. I cannot imagine what it was like to go from the worldview of 16th century Europe to 16th century Aztec culture.

I did not know much of anything about Cortes or his campaign. Now I know that Cortes was both brilliant and barbaric---he conquered the most populous city on earth and it costs the lives of over 200,000 people. This book will leave you wanting to learn more about the Aztec culture and you will be thinking about the morality of what Cortes and the Aztecs did for a long time.

If you have interest in this area of history, I would highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.

Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs by Buddy Levy. 448 pages. 2008.

The Conquest of Mexico was not a single event, it was not the result of disease, treachery, technology, or evil it was a long two year slog of battles won and battles lost. Too often the events surrounding the Conquest are simplified to issues of technology or disease and to a demonizing of the Spaniards. The reality is of course more nuanced and the simplification denigrates all sides.

This book does an admirable job of introducing the History and some of the issues related to the Conquest in an honest way. It draws on sources from all sides, including modern research and legacy studies. It presents the events in a complete enough narrative to tell the story with out getting bogged down in the details, some of which can be quite gory.

There are many other books available on this same topic but they tend to be one-sided or focused n on a single topic. When for instance a writer tries to make the case that Spanish victory was predicated on superior technology the writer would denigrate Spanish tactics, Aztec adaptations to technology and tactics. The focal point of this book is on the two leaders, Cortes and Montezuma.

The image of Cortes presented is a fairly complete image. This image may very well surprise many casual readers. Cortes was a real person and defies simple demonizing. He was physically very brave almost to the point of abject recklessness. The travail he endured is astounding. Cortes did not win every battle he presided over the long retreat from Mexico City and he proved capable of learning and adapting to the methods and abilities of his opponents. This natural military ability is something that is often overlooked in rash judgments which focus on technology or disease. The simple truth is that the majority of Cortés's forces were not Spanish they were locals. The gaining of local support speaks to another side of Cortes which gets overlooked and that is his diplomatic skills. His ability to discern fissures in the Aztec world and exploit them, creating a unified force of opposition, a coalition of the willing. We also see the darker side of Cortes, the side we are more apt to be familiar with the earnest religious zealot and the gold hungry adventurer.

The Aztec ruler is also fleshed out and we meet a troubled man at the height of his powers who has been a priest and a successful warrior. He is in church of a society built up on the shoulders of a triple federation, tribute, fear, and faith. Too often we get a glamorized image of the Aztecs, the kind that is popular in Mexico today ... which is often far from the truth.

This book ends really with the birth of a son to Cortes and to his native interpreter mistress. In a way this is fitting as there in lays the creation of modern Mexico a blend of two civilizations moving forward together.

All told this book is an excellent introduction the casual reader and beginning scholar of a story which seems at times more fiction then truth, but which really happened

One of the most enlightening and thorough retelling of the clash of cultures and civilizations when a handful of Spaniards conquered a thriving enlightened people. The result: creation of a completely new race in Mexico and eventually elsewhere in Latin America. The first meeting between Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma was so dramatic it won't be repeated until an eathling and an alien from space meet face to face. Sad that many Americans have no knowledge of the feas accomplished by Cortes and his conquistadores.

"Men of God and men of war have strange affinities" Levy quotes Cormac McCarthy at the outset of this fascinating narrative of Hernàn Cortés and Montezuma. The quote could hardly be more appropriate, since both men were undoubtedly, each in their own way, exactly that: men of war and men of God. It makes for a heady mix: Cortés a pious Spaniard who unhesitatingly committed mass murder, Montezuma the absolute ruler of an empire both capable of civil achievements and horrendous human sacrifice. The author's achievement is to relate the chain of events in a fascinating, eyewitness-quality way that leaves the reader marvelling at the audacity, ruthlessness and uncanny luck of the Gran Conquistador, whose character gave me the shivers, even while I found it impossible not to admire his competence. Cortés was his own man who made his own decisions, while Montezuma, for all his power, looked to me a prisoner of his elevated position, his advisors, his high priests and his gods. He certainly made the tragic mistake of not being as ruthless from the start as his opponent was, every moment of every day. This is a most enjoyable book, a great read even for those familiar with the story of the Spanish conquests in the Americas. It is also mercifully free of irritating references to future, unrelated events, of the kind that Michael Wood so liberally sprinkles his book 'Conquistadors' with, even going so far as to label them the precursors of today's economic globalisation. Buddy Levy is not guilty of any opinion-mongering: he leaves the reader to make up his own mind. It's very respectful of him, and I respect him the more for it.

The author takes you on this fantastic journey with Cortes and I must say that I am delighted with they way he describes one of the greatest efforts of all explorers to ever be undertaken. Enjoy!