The Aztecs. The History of the Indies of New Spain

This is a beautiful book with excellent plates and maps. The publishers are to be congratulated on a fine contribution to the historiography of preconquest Mexico. With Charles Dibble’s translation of Sahagún’s work and Francis Borgia Steck’s Motolinía, it is one of the all-too-few Indian histories available in English. The text is useful for reconstructing the Aztec rise to power, but one must admit that it is not easy to read, and that it is more important for content than for style. Also much valuable material in the original edition on Aztec culture has been omitted. We must still turn to the Spanish version for accounts of Aztec religion, for example. In a well-written introduction Ignacio Bernal traces the history of the Durán manuscript and makes clear its importance in reconstructing the pre-conquest history of Mexico.