The History of the Conquest of New Spain

Any account of dangerous travel holds the potential for unexpected revelation, but this one taps a motherlode of rare insights and observations. Part of the reason is that Diaz, a twenty-something soldier of fortune in Hernán Cortés’ 16th-century expedition to the New World, became enchanted by the Aztec civilization that he and his compadres had come to pillage and destroy. Diaz writes vividly and lyrically, with a keen eye for graphic detail, and is unsparing in his accounts of the remarkable brutality on both sides. Five centuries later, his account remains illuminating and disturbing, and shows it’s not always necessary… show more.

Although Spanish conquistador accounts of their invasion of Mesoamerica began with the letters Hernando (“Hernán”) Cortés began writing to Charles V while these events were still in progress, the most engaging eyewitness account was authored decades later by the foot soldier Bernal Díaz del Castillo. He wrote it partially to justify the landholdings he had gained through Spanish colonization, at a time when they were under threat by the colonial administration, and partially to counter the great-man narrative provided by Cortés himself and by his secretary and chaplain, Francisco López de Gómara, who wrote a history based on interviews with… show more.