The Essential Diaz: Selections from The Conquest of New Spain

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Ideally suited for use in swift-moving surveys of World, Atlantic, and Latin American history, thisabridgment of Ted Humphrey and Janet Burke's 2012 translation of the True History provides keyexcerpts from Diaz's text and concise summaries of omitted passages. A new introductionoutlines the social, economic, and political forces that motivated the European "discovery" of theNew World, briefly traces the history of the Conquest, and discusses Diaz's unique perspective onthe events recounted in the True History.

Reviews

Bernal Dazs True History of the Conquest of New Spain, the chronicle of an ordinary soldier in Hernando Cortss army, is the only complete account (other than Cortss own) that we have of the Spanish conquest of ancient Mexico. It makes for consistently fascinating reading, and Ted Humphrey and Janet Burke have provided the best, and the most engaging, translation ever to have appeared in English. Anthony Pagden, UCLA
[Humphrey and Burkes] translation takes full advantage of the best scholarship of the last fifty years, providing useful context and interpretation for the non-specialist. The result is a highly readable, engaging book that will prove a valuable teaching tool in a variety of classroom settings. Lyman Johnson, University of North Carolina Charlotte

Author Bio

Janet Burke is Associate Dean in Barrett, the Honors College, and Lincoln Fellow for Ethics and Latin American Intellectual History in the Lincoln Center for Ethics, at Arizona State University. Ted Humphrey is Presidents Professor, Barrett Professor, and Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Latin American Intellectual History at Arizona State University.