The time lag between filing a dissertation and publishing it as a book varies greatly, but the general consensus is that, after a couple of decades, a vintage doctoral study begins to turn vinegary. In such cases, an aged dissertation needs to be extensively reworked and revisited to fully justify becoming a book. H. B. Nicholson’s Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl is therefore exceptional in two ways. First, it represents the publication of a dissertation after what may be a record-breaking 44 years. Second, this dissertation has not undergone—nor did it need—extensive reworking. This has, in part, to do with the nature of the study, which exhaustively compiles and discusses all the ethnohistorical (and some archaeological) sources on the part-historical, part-mythical Mesoamerican ruler-deity whose name provides the book its title. But it is also possible due to Nicholson’s solid scholarship and clear and often elegant style. Since Nicholson’s sources were written or drawn...
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