When Montezuma met Cortés, the true story of the meeting that changed history, Matthew Restall
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When Montezuma met Cortés, the true story of the meeting that changed history, Matthew Restall
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 469-508) and index
Illustrations
mapsillustrations
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
When Montezuma met Cortés
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1012729478
Responsibility statement
Matthew Restall
Sub title
the true story of the meeting that changed history
Summary
"On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction--the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas--has long been the symbol of Cortés's bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched off a wave of colonial invasions across the hemisphere. But is this really what happened? In a departure from traditional tellings, When Montezuma Met Cortés uses "the Meeting"--as Restall dubs their first encounter--as the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Cortés and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cortés's and Montezuma's posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures, and the worlds in which they lived--leading, step by step, to a dramatic inversion of the old story. As Restall takes us through this sweeping, revisionist account of a pivotal moment in modern civilization, he calls into question our view of the history of the Americas, and, indeed, of history itself" --, Publisher
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