Table of Contents
Acknowledgments x
Introduction: The Dream of the Conquistador and a Book of Desire and Destruction David Carrasco xi
Preface by Bernal Diaz del Castillo xxviii
The Expedition under Cordova 1
The Expedition under Grijalva 14
Expedition under Cortes Begins: Intrigues in Cuba 17
Cortes Finds an Interpreter 28
Cortes Attacks the Ceiba Tree 40
Enter Dona Marina 48
Signs of Empire 52
Spaniards Viewed as Gods 64
Cortes Destroys the Ships 84
War in Tlaxcala 90
The Spaniards' Plea for Peace and Alliance 98
Ambassadors from Montezuma Arrive 110
Baptizing Tlaxcalan Women 119
The Massacre at Cholula 131
The March to Mexico 147
Arrival in the Splendid City of Tenochtitlan 156
Montezuma in Captivity 184
Games with Montezuma 193
Cortes Struggles with Narvaez 209
Spanish Massacre of the Dancers 211
Spanish Defeat and the Noche Triste 225
The Return to the Valley and the Alliance with Texcoco 239
The Siege Begins from Texcoco 263
Indian Allies and Spanish Disasters 277
Dismal Drums and Human Sacrifices 287
The Fall of Mexico and the Surrender of Guatemoc 296
The City as a Wasteland: Taking Women 303
Torturing Guatemoc for Treasure: Malicious Graffiti 311
Zapotec Fury 326
Pedro de Alvarado Attacks in Guatemala 329
Turmoil in Chiapas 342
The Arrival of the Twelve Franciscans 354
Mexico City Becomes a Roman Circus 362
Maps 373
Essays
Bernal Diaz del Castillo: Soldier, Eyewitness, Polemicist Rolena Adorno 389
Cortes and the Sacred Ceiba: A Maya Axis Mundi David Carrasco 399
Colonial Sexuality: Of Women, Men, and Mestizaje Karen Vieira Powers 405
La Malinche as Palimpsest II Sandra Messinger Cypess418
The Exaggerations of Human Sacrifice David Carrasco 439
Tenochtitlan as a Political Capital and World Symbol David Carrasco 448
Human Sacrifice/Debt Payments from the Aztec Point of View David Carrasco 458
Spaniards as Gods: The Return of Quetzalcoatl David Carrasco 466