The emphasis in this brief volume is literary rather than historical, and it has been prepared for the younger reader, not the mature scholar. It seeks to capture the spirit and mood of the Conquest and to provide a biography of the conqueror of Mexico which will be dramatically arresting and historically honest. As a literary device to achieve this end, the author has placed heavy reliance on preserving the idiom and tone of contemporary documents and has incorporated into the account numerous quotations from the writings of the Spanish principals as well as material taken from Indian tradition. Throughout, the emphasis is on style and literary grace, and the quotations, while numerous and sometimes lengthy, are always skillfully used in a way which adds color and perception. They reveal both the epic sweep of the conquest and the mundane detail besetting a conqueror who had ultimately to turn from the heroics of war to the hardest chore of all, that of restraining his turbulent fellow conquerors once they had tasted victory in New Spain. The Cortés story, of course, lends itself admirably to this treatment since it contains inherently elements of the picaresque novel, the chivalric tale, and the heroic poem.
Given the purpose of the work, it is well done. The narrative is historically accurate and the literary treatment displays imagination and craftsmanship. A work of this sort can do much to produce a warmer empathy toward the America of the Indian and the conqueror.