Conquistador
Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs

If you want to know what an alien invasion would be like, don't read science fiction, read this book instead. Just imagine how horrifying and strange it must have been for the Aztecs to have Cortes and his men show up in huge technologically advanced ships from a strange land they had never heard of......more

For those complaining about the “eurocentrism,” or whatever, of this book and others regarding the conquest of the Incas and the Aztecs, perhaps they weren’t aware that the Native American peoples had no written language. There were no historians among them. Everything we know of the encounter betwe......more

"In just over two years, using horses and calvary techniques developed over thousands of years on the Iberian Peninsula, employing nautical warfare and remarkable military engineering, and driven by political genius and an immeasurable will to succeed, Cortés vanquished the Aztecs and their ruler, w......more

Traveling from Veracruz to Mexico City is not a major journey - unless you do it on foot, wearing full metal armor, offroad without good maps, and with thousands of ferocious warriors trying to kill you. Who would attempt this? Only one guy. Buddy Levy's book Conquistador allows us to march alongsid......more

The conquest of Mexico is the New World's version of Troy, though in this case we have historical fact supported by primary sources from both sides. Levy's book on Hernan Cortez's destruction of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec empire is remarkable. His descriptions of events and historical figures is com......more