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Conquistadors
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Conquistadors-Michael-Wood/9780520236912
By
Michael Wood
RRP $47.99 $22.72 Save $25.27 (53%)
Free shipping Australia wide Ships from USA supplier | Rating: | | | Format: | Paperback / softback, 288 pages | | Other Information: | illustrations | | Published In: | United States, 15 November 2002 |
Following in the footsteps of the greatest Spanish adventurers, Michael Wood retraces the path of the conquistadors from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the deserts of North Mexico to the heights of Machu Picchu. As he travels the same routes as Hernan Cortes, and Francisco and Gonzalo Pizarro, Wood describes the dramatic events that accompanied the epic sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires. He also follows parts of Orellana's extraordinary voyage of discovery down the Amazon and of Cabeza de Vaca's arduous journey across America to the Pacific. Few stories in history match these conquests for sheer drama, endurance, and distances covered, and Wood's gripping narrative brings them fully to life. Wood reconstructs both sides of the conquest, drawing from sources such as Bernal Diaz's eyewitness account, Cortes's own letters, and the Aztec texts recorded not long after the fall of Mexico. Wood's evocative story of his own journey makes a compelling connection with the sixteenth-century world as he relates the present-day customs, rituals, and oral traditions of the people he meets. He offers powerful descriptions of the rivers, mountains, and ruins he encounters on his trip, comparing what he has seen and experienced with the historical record. A wealth of stunning photographs support the text, drawing the reader closer to the land and its people. As well as being one of the pivotal events in history, the Spanish conquest of the Americas was one of the most cruel and devastating. Wood grapples with the moral legacy of the European invasion and with the implications of an episode in history that swept away civilizations, religions, and ways of life.The stories in "Conquistadors "are not only of conquest, heroism, and greed, but of changes in the way we see the world, history and civilization, justice and human rights. |
Table of ContentsPrologue 'The Lord of the Snow Star' 1. Cortes and Montezuma 2. The War of the Worlds 3. The Conquest of the Incas 4. The Great War of the Incas 5. El Dorado: The Journey of Francisco Orellana 6. The Adventure of Cabeza de Vaca Epilogue "All the World Is Human" Further Reading Acknowledgements Index Picture Credits About the AuthorMichael Wood has worked as a journalist, broadcaster, and filmmaker, and is author of several highly acclaimed books, including "Domesday "(1986), "In Search of the Dark Ages "(1987), "Legacy "(1995), "In Search of the Trojan War "(California, 1998), and "In Search of England "(California, 2000). He has over sixty documentary films to his name, among them "Legacy, Saddam's Killing Fields, "and "In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great, "for which he also wrote the accompanying book. ReviewsIn Conquistadors, journalist and filmmaker Michael Wood (In Search of the Trojan War) travels the routes of the Spanish explorers and conquerors (and often by the same means, including a homemade balsa raft on Coca River rapids) the length and breadth of South and Central America and some of North America as well. With photos, maps and illustrations adorning nearly every page, the book examines records of the conquests both by the invaders and the native peoples. A 1613 letter from Peruvian historian Waman Poma to the king of Spain appealing for humane treatment of Indians, Gonzalo Pizarro's catalogue of the infamous El Dorado misadventures, Cabeza de Vaca's account of crossing North America and Geronimo de Aguilar's diary of the Night of Tears (when Aztecs fought back and killed 600 Spaniards) are among the numerous firsthand accounts Wood presents. (Univ. of California, $27.50 288p ISBN 0-520-23064-7) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. "This impressively illustrated companion volume to a [PBS] TV series on the destruction of the Aztec and Inca civilizations and related explorations is necessarily one of high drama and telling contrasts. It is also broad-based and balanced, a powerful corrective to the false glamour so often built around Cortes, Pizarro and their colleagues in genocide."--"ForeWord magazine
| Publisher: | University of California Press | | ISBN: | 0520236912 |
| EAN: | 9780520236912 | | Dimensions: | 24.03 x 18.85 x 2.36 centimeters (0.77 kg) |
| Age Range: |
15+ years |
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