Synopses & Reviews
Bernal Díaz del Castillo (14951584) served under Cortés through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative is both an invaluable document and a spectacular epic. Del Castillo saw Cortés sink his own ships (to prevent desertion) as soon as they landed on Mexican soil, and watched Montezuma become a prisoner in his own palace. The immediacy of his voice as translated by renowned scholar A.P. Maudslay reaches across the centuries to invite readers to witness for themselves the horrors and wonders of the initial, apocalyptic clash between two great civilizations.
Synopsis
Bernal D - del Castillo(1495-1584) served under Cort (c)through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative, one of only four extant firsthand accounts, is both an invaluable hirstorical document and a spectacular epic. He was with Cort (c)when the latter sank the ships, thus committing the small band of conquistadors irrevocably to the Conquest; he was privy to the counsels of the leaders and was at hand when Montezuma was made a prisoner in his own palace. Bernal D - fought in over a hundred battles and skirmishes against an enemy who made living sacrifices of their prisoners. These things he saw and recorded in a bold blunt voice whose immediacy, in Maudslay's classic translation, reaches across the centuries to invite readers to witness for themselves the horrors and wonders of the initial, apocalyptic clash between two great civilizations.
Synopsis
"Tragic, colorful, indispensable." --T.R. Fehrenbach, author of Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico
About the Author
Bernal Diaz del Castillo fought in over one hundred battles against Mexico. His account of the conquest is one of only four firsthand accounts.