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The History of the Conquest of Mexico Hardcover - 1998

Name: The History of the Conquest of Mexico (Modern Library)
Price: 30.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Prescott, William H
ISBN: 9780679602996

by William Hickling Prescott

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From the publisher

The Modern Library reintroduces William Prescott's epic histories of the European conquests of Mexico and Peru.

William Hinkling Prescott's monumental histories were available for many years in a single volume in the Modern Library. Now the works are republished as two books with new, more readable typesetting.

Prescott (1796-1859) wrote a number of vibrant and minutely researched histories of the Spanish-speaking world. The History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) tells of the subjugation between 1519 and 1529 of the whole Aztec people by Cortes and his group of a few hundred soldiers. Prescott also provides an analysis of the civilization that was destroyed as a result. Similarly, The History of the Conquest of Peru (1847) tells of Pizarro's expedition that led to the European domination of the Incas. Prescott never ventured any nearer to Spain than the Azores, but he learned the languages he needed for his histories, and used secretaries and assistants to help him read and write after an accident left him with drastically impaired sight. These works survive as great history and marvelously compelling literature.

First line

Of all that extensive empire which once acknowledged the authority of Spain in the New World, no portion, for interest and importance, can be compared with Mexico;-and this equally, whether we consider the variety of its soil and climate; the inexhaustible stores of its mineral wealth; its scenery, grand and picturesque beyond example; the character of its ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in intelligence that of the other North American races, but reminding us, by their monuments, of the primitive civilization of Egypt and Hindostan; or lastly, the peculiar circumstances of its Conquest, adventurous and romantic as any legend devised by Norman or Italian bard of chivalry.