Just finished Bernal Diaz' The True History of the Conquest of New Spain

[Zorro]

Bernal Diaz was a Spanish conquistador who accompanied Cortés in the campaign against the Aztecs. It's an amazing epic, stuffed with tales of heroism, barbarity, jealousy, treachery, predation, greed, guile, and lust.

The sheer audacity of the Spanish conquest is stunning. From arriving with 500 men on the coast at Veracruz, to burning their ships so there was no way to return to Cuba, to defeating and then diplomatically allying with various tribes along the way to Tenochtitlan, to marching into the capital and brazenly kidnapping Montezuma, to all the subsequent events -- it truly is a story for the ages.

Diaz fills in a lot of interesting details about the events he witnessed and the magnificent sites the conquistadors encountered as they marched inexorably toward Tenochtitlan, and how conflicted Montezuma was -- alternately demanding his allies ambush them on their approach, and then welcoming them into the heart of the city -- as Cortés persisted in his objective to meet (and subjugate) him. There are minor anecdotes -- how Montezuma complained to Cortés about one of his guards continuing to fart in his presence, how many of the Spaniards suffered from the "disease of the groins" (syphilis), etc. that add color to the tale.

It must have been horrific for Catholic Spaniards to encounter altars carved with feathered serpent heads where ritual murders were conducted almost daily. Not only did the blood-matted priests cut the beating hearts out of their living victims, but wide-scale cannibalism was a cultural practice -- Diaz describes how they would enter towns and find caged men, women, and children being fattened up prior to their sacrifice. Damn.

Revile him or admire him, Cortés is described in a way that is not altogether flattering -- Diaz was especially critical of Cortés not recognizing the efforts his original cohort contributed to the success of the campaign, and not sharing the riches he acquired with them -- but nevertheless he does provide an insightful portrait of Cortés, and just how cunning, diplomatic, brave, judicious, and ruthless a man he was. As fierce and as brutal as the Aztecs were, they more than met their match with Cortés and his conquistadors.

It's an incredible memoir, and I think there's not another book quite like this. It can actually be found and read for free at gutenberg.org (search for Bernal Diaz -- it's in 2 volumes, and is a long -- but rewarding -- read).

Whew.