Fifth Sun, Camilla Townsend
Fifth Sun, Camilla Townsend
2 Rating(s)
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Fifth Sun
A New History of the Aztecs

Author: Camilla Townsend

Narrator: Christina Delaine

Unabridged: 12 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/14/2020


Synopsis

In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story—and the story of what happened afterwards—has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars.

For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured.

About Camilla Townsend

Camilla Townsend is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. She is the author of numerous books, including Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, and The Annals of Native America: How the Nahuas of Colonial Mexico Kept Their History Alive, which won multiple prizes, among them the Albert J. Beveridge Award awarded by the American Historical Association.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Krista on April 10, 2021

The Aztecs would never recognize themselves in the picture of their world that exists in the books and movies that we have made. They thought of themselves as humble people who had made the best of a bad situation and who had shown bravery and thus reaped its rewards. They believed that the unive......more

Goodreads review by Melindam on April 01, 2025

3,5 stars On one hand, I'm grateful that this audiobook is currently included in the Plus Catalogue, on the other, I think I would have appreciated it more in print. Not that the narrator was bad, although her waxing lyrical was a bit odd at times. But I wonder whose decision it was to have all prope......more

Goodreads review by Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship on March 29, 2022

3.5 stars An informative history, beginning with the Aztecs’ origins and rise to power (focusing particularly on 15th century history, which has the most reliable sources), covering the Spanish conquest in the middle, and then the post-conquest years and how the indigenous people adapted in the later......more

Goodreads review by Faustibooks on December 31, 2022

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with this book. The Aztecs have always interested me, but for some reason I didn’t enjoy all of the chapters. Throughout the book Townsend focuses on a certain individual to explain the context in which they lived and their stories, but this could get re......more