History of the Indies of New Spain (Paperback or Softback)

Based on a Nahuatl chronicle now lost and on interviews with living Aztec informants, Duran’s History describes the intrigues and court life of the elite: their sumptuous clothing and jewelry, their elaborate ranks and privileges, the luxury of their gardens and homes. It also tells of the common people, who were forbidden to wear feathers, jade, or cotton or to enter the palace. Duran chronicles daily life in times in times of war and in times of flood and drought, when people sold their children for a handful of corn. Constant warfare yielded tribute of gold, jade, feathers, exoctic foods, and, most important, captives who died on the sacrificial stone, their hearts offered to the sun.

Duran traces the history of the Aztecs from their mythic origins to the destruction of the empire, when bearded strangers came from the east in "houses floating on the water." This definitive unabridged translation is accompanied by Heyden’s introduction and annotations, which provide background on recent studies of colonial Mexico and explanations of many details of the History.

Doris Heyden, a leading scholar and author of numerous books on Aztec civilization, is Senior Researcher in Mexican History and Religion at the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, and Professor of Prehispanic Art at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.