Ambivalent Conquests is first of all good reading, as vivid and compelling in its own way as Bernal Díaz’s sixteenth-century eyewitness account. Colonialists, if they do not persevere past the first five chapters, may think it is only that, a zesty rewrite of R. S. Chamberlain’s Conquest and Colonization of Yucatan. They would be wrong. This first section sets the scene for a finely nuanced discussion of the Franciscans’ “spiritual conquest” of Yucatán. Inga Clendinnen uses the 1562 idolatry trials conducted by the friars as both figurative and literal text, and analyzes what the trials can—and cannot—tell us about Maya responses to Christian evangelization. The idolatry trials were controversial at the time, and the author argues that they should remain so; the Mayas’ confessions of human sacrifice, obtained under torture, are unreliable as either historical or judicial evidence.
Political expedience, rather than belief in Maya innocence, dictated contemporary opposition to the trials, and there are good reasons why Mayanists have also accepted the results as valid, however distasteful the methods. The author herself seems finally to move in the same direction, finding the Maya testimony plausible in outline, though still exaggerated in details and numbers. In any case, an indisputable central thesis is no more crucial to this than to most other fine historical reconstructions. The book offers so many felicitous analyses and comments leading up to and embellishing its thesis that agreement or disagreement becomes secondary.
Interpretations that are both sensitive and sensible can be found on many topics, perhaps most especially on missionary attitudes and the meaning of Maya ritual. The sources, all published, and the data are often familiar. The interpretations are not, because the author brings a fresh eye as well as a formidable intelligence to her reading of these texts. She also brings a strong visual sense and weaves art historical material into her analyses with a deft touch.
Ambivalent Conquests sets a high standard of elegance in style and argument. Specialists will find some things to disagree with but more to admire, and anyone who values interesting ideas expressed in graceful prose will enjoy this book.
