Mexico: Volume 1, From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest

History of Mexico #1

by Alan Knight

Mexico is a three volume general history of Mexico, comprising (I) the PreConquest period to 1521, (II) the Colonial period from 1521 to 1821, and (III, forthcoming) the National period from 1821-present. These books give a comprehensive narrative and analysis of Mexican history, focusing especially on political, economic, and social organization. Balancing both a 'bottom-up'(popular) and a 'top-down' (elite) perspective, they seek, where possible, to locate Mexico within broader, comparative patterns of historical change and conflict.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2002

Reviews

[David Leister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good, if somewhat academic, overview of pre colonial Mexico. I learned a lot in 240 pages, though a lot of the conclusions drawn are best guesses, that’s really because there isn’t much information on the area outside of the archaeological record. Still, a very interesting, fair, and fact-based book.

[Gérard Doux · Rating 3 out of 5]

While some passages were great, I was a bit tired by the mutliple anachronistic comparisons, over-generalisations, and frequent use of non-translated french and german words to sound intelligent. Still, I'll probably read the second volume.