Most American schoolbooks claim that the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II confused the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés for the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a fabulous, fair-skinned priest king of ancient times who had promised to return, which is why Moctezuma voluntarily surrendered his mighty empire. In the past, the tale of Quetzalcoatl has inspired many people to speculate about pre-Columbian invaders from the Old World. It has also been abused as another presumed proof of white supremacy. Indigenous traditions, however, saw a Mexican Messiah who played an important part in constructing the Mexican national identity. This book demonstrates that the story of the returning god is a product of “fake news” uttered by Cortés. It does so by analysing the most important sources of the Quetzalcoatl-tale. A systematic context-enlargement that also includes ethnographic information and contemporary history reveals why and how Cortés constructed this story, and why and how the Aztec elite adopted it. This method proves to be an epistemological tool which allows researchers to identify pre-Hispanic information in ethnohistorical texts of colonial times. As a result, the true Quetzalcoatl behind the legend comes to light.

In this comprehensive study, Enrique Florescano traces the spread of the worship of the Plumed Serpent, and the multiplicity of interpretations that surround him, by comparing the Palenque inscriptions (ca. A.D. 690), the Vienna Codex (pre-Hispanic Conquest), the Historia de los Mexicanos (1531), the Popul Vuh (ca. 1554), and numerous other texts. He also consults and reproduces archeological evidence from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, demonstrating how the myth of Quetzalcoatl extends throughout Mesoamerica.

Stop looking for the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica and start looking for Mesoamerica in the Book of Mormon! Second Witness, a new six-volume series from Greg Kofford Books, takes a detailed, verse-by-verse look at the Book of Mormon. It marshals the best of modern scholarship and new insights into a consistent picture of the Book of Mormon as a historical document. Taking a faithful but scholarly approach to the text and reading it through the insights of linguistics, anthropology, and ethnohistory, the commentary approaches the text from a variety of perspectives: how it was created, how it relates to history and culture, and what religious insights it provides. The commentary accepts the best modern scholarship, which focuses on a particular region of Mesoamerica as the most plausible location for the Book of Mormon’s setting. For the first time, that location—its peoples, cultures, and historical trends—are used as the backdrop for reading the text. The historical background is not presented as proof, but rather as an explanatory context. The commentary does not forget Mormon’s purpose in writing. It discusses the doctrinal and theological aspects of the text and highlights the way in which Mormon created it to meet his goal of “convincing . . . the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.”

World History: A Concise Thematic Analysis presents the highly anticipated second edition of the most affordable and accessible survey of world history designed for use at the college level. An engaging narrative that contextualizes history and does not drown students in a sea of facts Offers a comparative analysis of the great civilizations of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas Addresses themes of population dynamics, food production challenges, disease history, warfare, and other major issues for civilizations Features new interior design and organization to enhance user experience Instructor’s test bank available online at www.wiley.com/go/wallech

Describes daily life in the Aztec world, including coverage of geography, foods, trades, arts, games, wars, political systems, class structure, religious practices, trading networks, writings, architecture and science.

Draws on cosmological phenomena of the modern world as well as the author's own research into shamanic and metaphysical belief systems to support the Mayan theory about an unprecedented global shift predicted for the year 2012.

Historians are concerned today that the Spaniards' early accounts of their first experiences with the Indians in the Americas should be balanced with accounts from the Indian perspective. We People Here reflects that concern, bringing together important and revealing documents written in the Nahuatl language in sixteenth-century Mexico. James Lockhart's superior translation combines contemporary English with the most up-to-date, nuanced understanding of Nahuatl grammar and meaning. The foremost Nahuatl conquest account is Book Twelve of the Florentine Codex. In this monumental work, Fray Bernardino de Sahag�n commissioned Nahuas to collect and record in their own language accounts of the conquest of Mexico; he then added a parallel Spanish account that is part summary, part elaboration of the Nahuatl. Now, for the first time, the Nahuatl and Spanish texts are together in one volume with en face English translations and reproductions of the copious illustrations from the Codex. Also included are five other Nahua conquest texts. Lockhart's introduction discusses each one individually, placing the narratives in context.