The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction

by David Carrasco

Overview

This book presents a very short introduction to the Aztecs using interpretive tools from religious studies and anthropology to uncover the paradox of Aztec life; on the one hand a people highly skilled in sculpture, astronomy, city planning, poetry and philosophic rhetoric while on the other hand a people profoundly committed to cosmic regeneration through the thrust of the ceremonial knife and warfare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199912667
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/02/2011
Series:	Very Short Introductions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	612,697
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Davíd Carrasco is the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America at Harvard University. For his scholarship in Mesoamerican religions and his work on Mexican American culture he received the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations xii

Preface xiii

1 The city of Tenochtitlan: center of the Aztec world 1

2 Aztec foundations: Aztlan, cities, peoples 16

3 Aztec expansion through conquest and trade 38

4 Cosmovision and human sacrifice 61

5 Women and children: weavers of life and precious necklaces 78

6 Wordplay, philosophy sculpture 92

7 The fall of the Aztec empire 02

8 The return of the Aztecs 112

References 121

Further reading 127

Index 133