| Cortés and Montezuma Contributor(s): Collis, Maurice (Author) |
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ISBN: 0811214230 ISBN-13: 9780811214230 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 1999 Annotation: The convergence of Cortes and Montezuma is the most emblematic event in the birth of what would come to be called "America". Landing on the Mexican coast on Good Friday, 1519, Hernan Cortes felt himself the bearer of a divine burden to conquer and convert the first advanced civilization Europeans had yet encountered in the West. For Montezuma, leader of the Mexicans, April 21, 1519 (known in their sophisticated astronomical system as 9 Wind Day) was the precise date of a dire prophesy: the return of Quetzalcoatl, a fearsome god predicted to arrive by ship, from the East, with light skin, a black beard, robed in black -- exactly as Cortes would. The ensuing drama is described by eminent historian Maurice Collis in a style that is equal parts story and scholarship. Though its consequences have been treated by writers as diverse as D.H. Lawrence and Charles Olson, never before have the facts of this event been rendered with such extraordinary clarity and elegance. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Latin America - Mexico - History | Native American - History | Expeditions & Discoveries |
| Dewey: 972.020 |
| LCCN: 99015278 |
| Series: New Directions Classics |
| Physical Information: 0.68" H x 5.25" W x 7.95" (0.61 lbs) 256 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 16th Century - Cultural Region - Latin America - Cultural Region - Mexican - Ethnic Orientation - Native American |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Landing on the Mexican coast on Good Friday, 1519, Hern n Cort s felt himself the bearer of a divine burden to conquer and convert the first advanced civilization Europeans had yet encountered in the West. For Montezuma, leader of the Mexicans, April 21, 1519 (known in their sophisticated astronomical system as 9 Wind Day) was the precise date of a dire prophesy: the return of Quetzalcoatl, a fearsome god predicted to arrive by ship, from the East, with light skin, a black beard, robed in black--exactly as Cort s would. The ensuing drama is described by eminent historian Maurice Collis in a style that is equal parts story and scholarship. Though its consequences have been treated by writers as diverse as D.H. Lawrence and Charles Olson, never before have the facts of this event been rendered with such extraordinary clarity and elegance. |