Uncovering the Mysterious World of the Aztecs: An Exploration into the History of the Fifth Sun

GKC: I never realized that native historians had recorded what they recalled of pre-invasion times. These are excellent tales, and the author does a good job of explaining context. Highly recommend.

United States on Aug 24, 2023

Arynth: Townsend goes to great lengths to capture not only the history of important persons but detailing the impacts on the lives of ordinary people. She’s does this with brief interludes lacking in many histories - drawing together evidence and stating a likely feeling or event while allowing room for doubt. Using a little imagination.

She’s carefully draws in indigenous accounts and languages and wraps it all in a framing of indigenous record-keeping. Throughout she conveys her sadness at what we don’t or can’t know as well as the human tragedies we do know about, packing a lot of information into a space other authors would pad into 600-800 pages.

As a final note - she’s quite clearly careful to emphasise the role of and impact on women in this history. Where they have voices and where they’ve been silenced. How they were used or managed to make lives for themselves. The burdens they had to bear when demands were made on their societies

United Kingdom on Jan 05, 2022

DJM50: Muy interesante historia..

Mexico on Aug 12, 2021

algo41: This is a very enlightening book. While it is a history, there is some attempt to depict what life was like, based primarily on written sources rather than all the tools modern archaeologists utilize. Interestingly, the Aztecs (or Mexica as a preferred name) themselves, post conquest, were the main sources of these writings –having become literate in Spanish, these amateur historians wrote accounts based on the oral histories and stories which existed.

What I thought I knew about the Spanish conquest was mostly erroneous. Moctezuma had a realistic understanding of the Spanish and their superior weaponry, and felt he could not afford even a successful battle because of all the men it would cost, and the impact such a loss would have on the conquered tributaries. Townsend likens the warfare to the medieval polities taking on the cities of ancient Mesopatamia, as history/civilization in the Western hemisphere began so much later than in the rest of the world. As it was, the native American allies of the Spanish were motivated by a desire to be on the winning side as well as a desire to overthrow the Aztecs. Not long after Moctezuma’s murder, the occupants of Tenochtitlan...

United States on Jul 30, 2021

M. Butcher: This is a wonderful and enthralling account of the subjugation of the Aztecs by the Spanish. It draws on the hitherto ignored sources of accounts written by the conquered -drawing out with nuance their intelligence and humanity. The author addresses issues of legitimacy as understood at the time and the interplay between high politics involving the King of Spain and the accommodations with the indigenous peoples required to assure a measure of order. If there is to be a second edition, as there surely must be, I hope maps are added showing both the territories of the indigenous peoples and the languages they spoke, perhaps alongside a both a political map of modern Central America including cities and towns and a geographical map showing rivers and topography.

United Kingdom on Jun 05, 2021

markr: This book looks at the history of the Aztecs, the Mexica, as they called themselves, before, during and after the Spanish invasion.

Based on histories deliberately written by indigenous people who lived shortly after the events, to ensure a record for future generations, this book gives the perspective and understanding of the Mexica about what was happening to them. These works were written to capture and preserve the oral histories and songs which had provided the original communities with their historical culture and identity. They have formed the basis for the author’s research and this fascinating book.

It is clear that the Aztecs themselves had built their own own hegemony on violence and conquest and that this history eventually provided the Spanish invaders with the indigenous allies without whom they could not have hoped to prevail.

This book also makes clear that some of legends which arose from the writings of the conquistadors are simply untrue - the Mexica did not believe that the Spanish were gods, and Mocezuma did not give his empire away willingly.

This book brings the 15th and 16th century Mexica to life - their loves, fears, courage...

United Kingdom on Feb 25, 2021

TeacherHist: This book is written in a very engaging style and really brings the culture of the Aztecs to life in a brilliant way. On occasions I felt it drifted a bit too far from the facts and (understandably perhaps) the author had to use a little too much imagination and speculation to fill the gaps in the social history record. This is not personally to my taste but might make it even more attractive to other readers. Overall, very much recommended.

United Kingdom on Feb 06, 2021

Warren: The best histories are those that upend everything you were taught in history class. With Fifth Sun, Camilla Townsend has offered a powerful, intelligently written overview of the people of central Mexico. (Erroneously called Aztecs, more on this below). A reader of this book will come away with a new understanding of their remarkable history.

Often in discussions this period, the Spanish conquest plays a central role in the story. Obviously that history is presented here. The violence done to the inhabitants of central Mexico though, is frequently seen as almost an erasure, or annihilation of their culture. As Prof Townsend documents, while suffering catastrophic losses to the disease, killings and enslavement by the Spaniards, these people did not disappear. Their culture and language live on. (She helpfully presents an easy-to-understand primer of local pronunciations, including for Mexica, the people of the Valley of Mexico).

The violence done even extended to their names. The word 'Aztec' we learn, was fabricated by European scholars centuries after the conquest. Townsend flatly notes : "No people ever called themselves that." She also puts the lie to several...

United States on May 09, 2020

Amy CuetoAmy Cueto: While purchasing books online, it is very difficult to know what the physical book will actually look like. Unfortunately most websites do not go into detail on the font size, images and quality of their product. When purchasing a more expensive book, I would like to be able to preview what I will be spending my hard earned money on to then be able to decide if I want to buy or check out the item from the library. Here are pictures I have taken of the purchased book of which I paid 23.94 for. Note the pictures in the description above, which are in color from other reviews and in the Amazon listing. The book has a beautiful waxy dust jacket, the book binding is of nice quality, the paper feels decent in quality, and the font is the size I prefer for reading. There is a decent amount of notes, bibliography and references. One flaw I have is that I wish the notes would be on their corresponding pages as I hate flipping back and forth to read any extra information that pertains to what I read. I’m more than likely going to just read the notes straight through and then missing the actual benefits they would have given me at the time of reading, my own harp, not speaking for anyone...

United States on Feb 15, 2020