I have read other accounts of the Mixica, most notably by Michael D. Coe, but none of them hit upon the complexity involving the meeting of Cortes and Montecuzoma as this book did. Drawing on dialog from Bernal Diaz (The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico-also another great read), Collis has stripped away the dryness of other books, on this subject, that were written primarily for academia, leaving the intimate human perspective to the greatness of both of these men and the circumstances that caused each to react as he did. As did Diaz's book, this book made me feel as though I were sitting beside Cortes and Montecuzoma as the drama of their meeting unfolded. For those who are students, as a vocation or avocation, of the ancient cultures that inhabited this continent this is a must book to read and have on hand to reread over and again because you won't want it to end.

The incredible chain of events that led to the conquest of Mexico by a small group of Spaniards is wonderfull told by Maurice Collis in this fascinating book. Well organised and stylishly written, the book includes many quotations from contemporary sources, as well as some very vivid descriptions of the places and persons involved. Collis's understanding of the events and his clear and involving style make Cortes and Montezuma an extraordinary piece of historical writing.

The complex characters and motivations of both central figures are explained in detail. According to Collis, Montezuma was a generous, devout and able ruler, but at the same time he was a tyrannical monster who indulged in endless orgies of ritual murder; Cortes was a civilized and enterprising explorer who brought enlightenment to a oppressed land but he was also the bringer of death and destruction to a complex and fascinating civilization. The author also explains the amazing astrological-magical religion of the Mexicans and how it made the conquest possible.

This is probably the best book on the subjet, a veritable page turner that will help you understand one of the most incredible events in history.

The story of the conquest of the remarkable Aztec civilization by Cortes' handful of Spaniards is an incredible drama. The accounts of Bernal Diaz and Prescott tell it well, but at considerable length, and with only a superficial comprehension of what motivated the Mexicans' responses to Cortes' invasion. What makes Corliss's succinct and compelling account so insightful and remarkable, to me, is his sympathetic understanding of the Mexicans' and Montezuma's complex astrological-magical religion, and how it decisively shaped their actions. He understands a pre-modern time when religious beliefs were the predominant context for social and individual actions, as well as the importance of Cortes' religious faith, and he notes the fascinating paradoxes and ironies that resulted from the primary actors' actions based on their respective religious convictions.

But regardless of that, this is simply a wonderful read. My one regret is that the book wasn't accompanied by illustrations to convey the extraordinary richness (and horror) of the Aztec civilization, as well as the difficult and stunning terrain where the action took place.

As a footnote, it is fascinating to contrast the ethos of the Conquistadores with that of the North American settlers so well described in Albion's Seed.

Mr. Mee is a fantastic writer. As another reviewer remarked, Mr. Mee definitely brings history to life. The meetings described in this book make for great, enticing reading material for junior high school on up.

Mr. Mee is an excellent writer and truely brings history to life. I recommend this book to anybody that wants more than "light reading", has an interest in human-kind and is not a real history buff.

I must say this book is one of the best reads in years! Not only is it well written and well researched it in very interesting!

"Two thumbs up" is the simplest review for this historical analysis of the Mexican War of 1846-48. I read Johannsen's book for a class on U.S. Diplomatic History between 1776 and 1913 and loved it!! Johannsen discusses the image of the Mexican War in Americans' minds, not so much the military history of the battles. We get a better perception of America as a whole in 1846. Americans were living in an age of social and economic changes and believed that commercial pursuits were destroying the republican foundations of the new nation. To many Americans, the war with Mexico rejuvenated republican spirits and showed the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon United States against a "backward," supposedly racially inferior Mexican enemy. This book goes beyond the accounts of critics of the war, who argued that President James K. Polk and others were trying to extend slavery across the continent. We get a better sense of American reaction to the Mexican War and the changes the United States underwent during this era of "Manifest Destiny."

This would be worth a look simply because Thomas does what all good historians should: sink their readers deeply into past ages and former cultures by way of a fascinating story.

But even better . . .

Recent histories of the Spanish Conquest tend to emphasize the atrocities of the conquistadors while upholding the virtues of the indigenous peoples. While well-intentioned (and a needed corrective to chronicles written in the previous 100 years), the approach has an annoying tendency to demonize Europeans, turn the natives into statuary and drain all the drama from the past.

So I'm grateful for Hugh Thomas and his neo-revisionist history. The Spaniards are ultimately the heavies, but presented with all their complexities and ambitions on display (who knew Hernan Cortes could be so interesting?). They aren't completely malevolent.

Similarly, Thomas avoids the Howard Zinn/PC trap of turning America into Eden and Indians into children by detailing the delicate intertwining of politics and religion in the Mexican (aka Aztec) empire, by displaying the cruelty the Mexica could occasionally summon toward their subjects and by placing it all in the proper cultural context -- as with the Spaniards, you understand why they did what they did, even if you don't approve of it.

Wrap an exquisite narrative thread around the whole package and you've got a book for the ages.

'Like a song you were born Montezuma , like a flower you came to bloom on the earth' so echo the words of an ancient Nauhatl poem .In Hugh Thomas 'The Conquest of Mexico' here is a book that finally delivers the true insight in to the lives and actions that unfolded five hundred years ago.Thomas skillfully weaves his characters in to a unfolding plot.We are transported to the life of the ancient Mexica in there demi-paradise island of Tenochtitlan , there we learn about the origins and there quest to serve there dietys Huitzipochtli and Tezcatlipoca with the offerings of songs and blood.Their world lived in total isolation until the early part of the sixteenth century , when by chance the doorway that Columbus had opened was to allow oppourtunist Spanish conquistadors route to explore the rich frontiers of the New world.Such men like Heran Cortes who as 'A man born in Brocade' lived to fulfil his destiny and sail to the land of the west in search of his fortune.Thomas gives us the background of Cortes troubled upbringing and his cunning eye for oppourtunity , it was such invention that enabled this remarkable captain to dupe the governor of Cuba Diego Velasquez to let him sail and once arrived with his men dissolve his orders to settle the land not under the governors name , but to conquer under Don Carlos and God.On route he picked up valuable people to aid him on his quest, the captive Geronimo de Aguilar who had lived with the Maya and the native interpretress 'Mallinalli' who was to be called 'La Malinche'.Cortes etched his way ever so slowly towards the city of MontezumaII ,he convinced the waring adversaries of the great empire the Tlaxcalans to join him.In Tenochtitlan the fragile lord had forseen great unrest and ruin a year back when his priests had claimed to have seen the 'The floating trees'with bearded men on board.It was such doom that Thomas evokes so splendidly and when the Spanish fianlly arrive at the magnificent causeways , one believes the Mexica empire is already heading for a ! cataclysmic end.The Spanish stayed for a year and a half on and off, they commited violations against there host, the crazed Pedro de Alvarado commited the worst crime and from that point on the Castillians had no choice but to fight for thier lives.So it was when Montezuma who had perished the then heir-apparent Cuauhtemoc stood before the Caudillo and asked him to end his life, so ended the harmony that once was. It is with eurdition and poignacy that Thomas moves us like a Mexican libation to there gods with his account of the conquest. Perhaps the finest account to date on this subject.

I can't praise this book enough. The story of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico through Cortez is unbelievably compelling. Even so, Mr. Thomas writes brilliantly and tells this story better than I have ever seen, read, or heard it done. He brings life to all of the characters along the way including those that came before Cortez, those that he met and made allies along the way, those he turned into enemies, and especially Montezuma. The final battle for Tenochtitlan is frightening and heartbreaking.

This is history that reads like fiction. The world of Mexico before the Conquistadors is so foreign to the Western mind that it reads almost like fiction or fantasy. Yet it all happened, and Mr. Thomas tells it with power and passion. This is a book you owe it to yourself to read. Just amazing and wonderful.

An adventure worthy of Dumas' inkwell. A wonderfully crafted story that should strike a cord with any adventure reader, especially one from 10 to 14. Good coverage of historical facts and environment of the time arranged around a timeless story of love and adventure. Give this book to your kids and they will forever be grateful.

Montezuma's Daughter is a story about love, adventure, war, hate, history and etc. I read this book when I was about 11 years old and I thought it was so amazing that I really would like to reread it again. The author also discribes the characters so clearly that you get an exact picture of who is it that you're reading about. I would recomend this book for everyone because it also has lots of historical facts to it too.

Within the first hundred pages, the hero has gone to Spain to avenge his mother's murder, learned how to be a doctor, helped drug a girl about to be walled in a convent cellar, held prisoner on a slave ship, thrown overboard, and is shipwrecked in Aztec Mexico. It gets better from there. And yet the hero is such a nice man: a novelty these days in adventure stories.

Veteran Hollywood character actor Jan Merlin has based this novel on one of the most remarkable experiences of his life--- his participation in a film called THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER. The novel's hero, Kurt Mitchell, undergoes a year-long makeup ordeal identical to Jan's, and like Jan is cheated of screen credit though he plays one of the film's key roles. Apart from this Jan gives a vivid picture of the Hollywood studio system in its dying days, and the horrors of location filming (Ireland for the actual film, Brazil for the imaginary film that is the basis of the novel). He has also added a subplot involving a series of child murders. The whole mix works quite well; as usual in Jan's novels the characters all come to life, whether based on real people or not, and the evocation of sights, sounds, odors and details is so vivid in each of the novel's scenes that the reader seems to be there. At about 200 pages, and with situations that keep you turning the pages, this is a particularly fine book for summer reading.

As one who teaches film studies, I am often surprised at how much is formulaic in the movie business. Yet, some of the most formulaic movies (murder mysteries, special effects stories) may contain the most surprises. This roman a clef tells the story of a famous Hollywood tale and the movie that serves as its backdrop. Readers of this fascinating account may be surprised, pleasantly and not, by the attitudes of big stars and bigger directors. Done in a movie script format, the novel only underscores the cruel fiction of "entertainment" in the Hollywood mode. How much is true? From my own historical studies, I would say more than not; and what is not true may be changed to protect the illusions movie fans live by. Was it John Ford who used the tag line to "print the legend"? Well, Jan Merlin prints the legend with warts and all. A must read for anyone who thinks he knows the movie business and movie trivia.

Wow! I can hardly wait to see the E! network version of this great book. If you want the inside picture of the movie business, this book has it all over The Player. The author knows what really happens on a movie set and in the makeup room. This one will blow the roof off one of the big studios! Highly recommended for film buffs.

The sequel to "The Last Open Road" it is a must read for readers who loved it. As a stand alone book it isn't quite as good and might not be appreciated as much if read by itself. "The Last Open Road" is multi-dimensional, it is a great car tale and also a coming of age story of a young man who wants to be a sportscar mechanic and is pursuing a girlfriend at the same time. All three threads are intertwined. The book is wonderfully evocative of time and place, you can smell and feel the summer nights which he describes. In "Montezuma's Ferrari" the protagonist is a successful mechanic and married so the focus is mostly on the car tales and the descriptions are not as engrossing but the book is still wonderful.

This book is Beatufiuly written and is very entertaining. If you have not read any thing by Mr. Levy you must read this book.Like catcher in the rye? Read this book. the advertising section is beautifully done . Come on be cool.NOW BUY THIS BOOK AND ENJOY IT!

If you read "The Last Open Road" and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy "Montezuma's Ferrari" as well. There's more adventures involving an increasingly worldly and less awkward Buddy. Although this book would stand alone, it has more meaning after first reading Open Road. They are both books that make you laugh out loud in the wrong places...like airplanes and public transportation. Unfortunately, if you're like me, the book is so entertaining it ends all too quickly. And the ending is a little abrupt. So If you're reading Burt, let us please have some more.

This book is not scholarly in the least. It is written at what seems to be an 8th grade reading level, it is "concise" (i.e., it makes sweeping generalizations and it is extremely short for a 3,000 year history), it lacks continunuity, and the author makes odd assumptions (he writes as though speaking for the mexican people as a whole when it comes to matters of opinion). It works as strictly as elementary summary of Mexican history for the beginner. It's basically Cliff's Notes for people who want to have a minor understanding of what this fascinating country is about. Oh, and it's overpriced as well.

If you looking for an extremely brief and summarized account of Mexican History, this is a good book. I would recomend it for people who are looking for a quick read in order to have an idea of Mexican history (people visiting on vacation, for instance), for people who have taken history a long time ago and only need to refresh their memory (which was my case), or for people who like to start with easy things before plunging into the subject. For me, it served its purpose but I have to say that for the price I payed, I was expecting something more. Extremely overpriced!

The virtues first: this book manages to cover some one thousand years of complex history in a little over 200 pages. No mean task. Now, the problems: a wooden, occasionally opaque, prose style drives the narrative. Too often there is inattention to important details and, particularly in the closing chapters, the author reveals his ideological proclivities [right/center apparatchik and apologist for both Republican and PRI policies]. Beyond these interpretive biases, there is little sense that Suchlicki is moved by the drama or scope of Mexican history. Very little reliance on primary sources, very few quotations, very few telling anecdotes. In short, an uninspired and dreary read of an inspiring and dramatic subject. Too bad.