Susan Kellogg

I began to study the Aztecs as an undergraduate in the early 1970s and have remained fascinated by them ever since. My first book, Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture (1995) explored the influence of Spanish legal practices on Aztec society and analyzes the impact of colonialism on native peoples. My next book, Weaving the Past: A History of Latin America’s Indigenous women from the Prehispanic Period to the Present (2005) reflected my deep interest in women’s history and documents the history and agency of women often overlooked in their own societies and by scholars. I received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Ethnohistory in 2022 in recognition of my efforts to use legal documents to study social, cultural, and gender history, for professional service, and for mentoring younger scholars. My new book, A Concise History of the Aztecs (2024), represents a return to my early interest in Aztec peoples and societies. In it, I try to explain some of the basic ideas that help explain Aztec life in its many complexities and emphasize their achievements and humanity to encourage readers to move beyond the stereotypes that so often shape how Aztecs are perceived.