Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest - Hardcover

Restall, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195160770 ISBN 13: 9780195160772

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2003

Synopsis

Here is an intriguing exploration of the ways in which the history of the Spanish Conquest has been misread and passed down to become popular knowledge of these events. The book offers a fresh account of the activities of the best-known conquistadors and explorers, including Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro.
Using a wide array of sources, historian Matthew Restall highlights seven key myths, uncovering the source of the inaccuracies and exploding the fallacies and misconceptions behind each myth. This vividly written and authoritative book shows, for instance, that native Americans did not take the conquistadors for gods and that small numbers of vastly outnumbered Spaniards did not bring down great empires with stunning rapidity. We discover that Columbus was correctly seen in his lifetime--and for decades after--as a briefly fortunate but unexceptional participant in efforts involving many southern Europeans. It was only much later that Columbus was portrayed as a great man who fought against the ignorance of his age to discover the new world. Another popular misconception--that the Conquistadors worked alone--is shattered by the revelation that vast numbers of black and native allies joined them in a conflict that pitted native Americans against each other. This and other factors, not the supposed superiority of the Spaniards, made conquests possible.
The Conquest, Restall shows, was more complex--and more fascinating--than conventional histories have portrayed it. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest offers a richer and more nuanced account of a key event in the history of the Americas.

About this title

About the Author:

Matthew Restall is Professor of Latin American History, Women's Studies, and Anthropology, and Director of Latin American Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of five books, including Maya Conquistador and The Maya World. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.

Review:

"A work of this kind brings good scholarship together with the arguments and contributions of the author and puts it between two covers, where we can have our whole feast on Conquest history. Well conceived, researched, and written, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest is a valuable synthesis of this important event in human history and a good candidate for the colonial Latin American history and historiography classroom."--Patricia Lopes Don, San Jose State University

"A daring revisionist critique.... Restall's provocative analysis, wide-ranging scholarship and lucid prose make this a stimulating contribution to the debate on one of history's great watersheds."--Publishers Weekly

"Compelling and revisionist.... Demonstrates that from the beginning of the Spanish Conquest, the way of life that has evolved in the Americas was shaped in concert by diverse peoples of European, Native American, and African descent."--Library Journal

"Matthew Restall is one of the leading pioneers of a new approach to the history of European colonization in the Americas, re-integrating indigenous perspectives and exploiting indigenous sources. The conquest of Mexico puzzled even participants in it and generated legends which have continued to hold historians spellbound: Restall subjects them to re-examination with a ferociously critical intellect, a historically disciplined imagination, and exceptional command of the sources. By unpicking the myths, Restall makes possible, for the first time, a believable reconstruction of what really happened."--Felipe Fernández-Armesto

"Restall's simple prose is deceptive because he confronts and overturns hoary myths of some of the most controversial and complex aspects of the conquest of Spanish America. Based on a deep knowledge of the Spanish and indigenous sources, he clearly shows how the myths of Spanish prowess and Indian inabilities were created, and why and how they have been perpetuated. This is revisionism at its best." --Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale University

"This is a work of clear significance for the understanding not just of the Conquest itself, but also the means by which we have mythologized it. Restall displays both wit and erudition as he reveals the invention and persistence of some key images of the conquistadores. Seven Myths is a scholarly yet accessible text that should be required reading for any course that touches upon colonial conquests and the culture of the Americas."--Neil L. Whitehead, University of Wisconsin-Madison

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0195160770
• ISBN 13: 9780195160772
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240