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    Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
    Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
    Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
    Audiobook12 hours

    Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

    Written by Camilla Townsend

    Narrated by Christina Delaine

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In November 1519, Hernando Cortes 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 14, 2020
    ISBN9781705217085
    Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
    Author

    Camilla Townsend

    Camilla Townsend lives in Hamilton, New York, and is an associate professor of history at Colgate University. She is the author of Tales of Two Cities: Race and Economic Culture in Early Republican North and South America.

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    Reviews for Fifth Sun

    4.5/5

    28 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      (Hago mi reseña en español porque es la lengua que mejor domino)
      Impresionante historia de mexica (se aclara que el término Aztec es usado para denominar a los habitantes del valle de México hablantes de nahuatl ellos nunca se reconocieron con ese término). A través de las fuentes en nahuatl escritas en los siguientes ochenta años después de la conquista de Tenochtitlan Townsend reconstruye la historia de este pueblo que dominaba el centro de lo que hoy es México y al que se enfrentaron Cortés y sus huestes. Así muestra los conflictos políticos, las tradiciones culturales que configuraban el mundo nahuatl hacia los siglos XIV, XV y principios del XVI, la manera en la que Tenochtitlan se convirtió en la fuerza dominante del valle y después comenzó a expandirse, cómo los conflictos sucesorios marcaban la historia de los altetepe y cómo todo ello contribuyó al desarrollo de los eventos que tuvieron lugar entre 1519 y 1521. Pero Townsend no se queda en la conquista y despacha el asunto por visto, narra como este pueblo se adaptó al nuevo mundo y cómo sobrevivió en él, cómo algunos de ellos utilizaron las herramientas europeas a su favor (como la escritura) y así lograron legar la historia de su pueblo y su propia historia (así aparecen Chimalpopoca y Chimalpaín). También Malintzin, la intérprete, aparece y se le dedica un capítulo tanto para mostrar sus condiciones como la forma en que logró amoldarse al mundo cambiante, también su hijo aparece. Muchos personajes, junto con los tlatoani tenochcas, los gobernadores indígenas del cabildo de la ciudad de México, las princesas que dieron su legitimidad a sus hijos y sellaron alianzas -Isabel Ixcuepon, la hija de Moctezuma y Leonor de Alvarado fueron ejemplos que los españoles conocieron-.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A work of astonishing quality down to the finest detail. To learn about the culture of ancient Mexico is not as easy as learning about Rome or India, it is much more difficult (unless one is contented with the Spanish made rubbish they taught us at school). This book is not only an exquisite compendium of the history of the Mexica, but also contains a list of all available Nahuatl sources, something that heralds a new era in the global understanding of Mexico. Just learn Nahuatl and you can become your own expert. I am grateful to the author, she must be an extremely intelligent person and also to the narrator who did a phenomenal job, even down to the pronunciation.
    • 5/5
      Really worthwhile - detailed enough for historians, interesting for general readers. The postscript about use of sources is especially good