The cost of courage in Aztec society
Subtitle: essays on Mesoamerican society and culture
By: Inga Clendinnen.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780521518116
Subjects: Aztecs -- Rites and ceremonies; Aztecs -- Warfare -- Social aspects; Aztecs -- Religion; Violence -- Mexico -- History -- 16th century; Mayas -- Rites and ceremonies; Mexico -- History -- Conquest, 1519-1540
Description: "A collection of pathbreaking essays on Aztec and Maya culture in the sixteenth century"--Provided by publisher.

"Tenochitlan, the Aztec city, was the creation of war. The courage and stamina of its young fighting men was indisputable. In the title work of this pathbreaking collection of essays, Inga Clendinnen discusses why warfare was so central to Aztec society and the ways in which the Aztecs understood their relationship to the forces governing the world and the heavens. Aztec rhetoric and Aztec ritual were unified in the endeavor to sustain a social order sufficiently in harmony with the natural order. Subsequent essays examine the survival of Yucatec Maya culture under Spanish conquest, the role of "religion" in sixteenth-century Mexico, and Hernando Cortes and the conquest of Mexico. "--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. 'Fierce and unnatural cruelty': Cortés and the conquest of Mexico; 2. Disciplining the Indians: Franciscan ideology and missionary violence in sixteenth-century Yucatán; 3. The cost of courage in Aztec society; 4. Ways to the sacred: reconstructing 'religion' in sixteenth century Mexico; 5. Landscape and world view: the survival of Yucatec Maya culture under Spanish conquest; 6. Breaking the mirror: from the Aztec spring festival to organ transplantation; 7. Reading Mr. Robinson.