The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521 - by Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Paperback)

About the Book

"Tragic, colorful, indispensable." --T.R. Fehrenbach, author of Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico

Book Synopsis

Bernal DÃ- del Castillo(1495-1584) served under CortÃ(c)through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative, one of only four extant firsthand accounts, is both an invaluable hirstorical document and a spectacular epic. He was with CortÃ(c)when the latter sank the ships, thus committing the small band of conquistadors irrevocably to the Conquest; he was privy to the counsels of the leaders and was at hand when Montezuma was made a prisoner in his own palace. Bernal DÃ- fought in over a hundred battles and skirmishes against an enemy who made living sacrifices of their prisoners. These things he saw and recorded in a bold blunt voice whose immediacy, in Maudslay's classic translation, reaches across the centuries to invite readers to witness for themselves the horrors and wonders of the initial, apocalyptic clash between two great civilizations.

About the Author

Bernal Diaz del Castillo fought in over one hundred battles against Mexico. His account of the conquest is one of only four firsthand accounts.