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Conquistador
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780553384710
  • Imprint: Bantam Dell
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

Conquistador

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

Formats & editions
EBook
24 June 2008
Paperback
15 Oct 2009
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A thrilling narrative of the larger-than-life clash between a relentless conqueror and a formidable king that led to the destruction of the Aztec empire, from the award-winning historian and author of River of Darkness

“Fascinating . . . [an] almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty, and courage.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A sweeping and majestic history of a clash of civilizations that reshaped the New World.”—Neal Bascomb, author of Red Mutiny

“I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with gold.”—Hernán Cortés

It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. Only one would survive the encounter.

In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico with a roughshod crew of adventurers and the intent to expand the Spanish empire. Along the way, this brash and roguish conquistador schemed to convert the native inhabitants to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in carrying out his intentions by virtually annihilating a proud and accomplished people is one of the most remarkable—and tragic—aspects of this unforgettable story of conquest.

In Tenochtitlán, the famed City of Dreams, Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, ruler of fifteen million people, and commander of the most powerful military machine in the Americas. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astonishing military campaigns ever waged. Sometimes outnumbered in battle thousands-to-one, Cortés repeatedly beat seemingly impossible odds.

Buddy Levy meticulously researches the mix of cunning, courage, brutality, superstition, and finally disease that enabled Cortés and his men to survive. Epic in scope, as entertaining as it is enlightening, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780553384710
  • Imprint: Bantam Dell
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

Praise for Conquistador

  • "In CONQUISTADOR, Buddy Levy offers a fascinating account of the first and most decisive of those encounters: the one between the impetuous Spanish adventurer Cortés and Montezuma...Mr. Levy has an eye for vivid detail and manages to build a compelling narrative out of this almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty and courage."--Arthur Herman, Wall Street Journal
  • "To read CONQUISTADOR is to see, hear and feel two cultures in a struggle to the death with nothing less than the fate of the western hemisphere at stake. Prodigiously researched and stirringly told, Conquistador is a rarity: an invaluable history lesson that also happens to be a page-turning read." -- Jeremy Schaap, bestselling author of Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History, and Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics

  • "In CONQUISTADOR, Buddy Levy offers a fascinating account of the first and most decisive of those encounters: the one between the impetuous Spanish adventurer Cortés and Montezuma...Mr. Levy has an eye for vivid detail and manages to build a compelling narrative out of this almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty and courage."--Arthur Herman, Wall Street Journal
  • "To read CONQUISTADOR is to see, hear and feel two cultures in a struggle to the death with nothing less than the fate of the western hemisphere at stake. Prodigiously researched and stirringly told, Conquistador is a rarity: an invaluable history lesson that also happens to be a page-turning read." -- Jeremy Schaap, bestselling author of Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History, and Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics