A Traveller's History of Mexico

By Kenneth Pearce

Book Overview

A Traveller's History of Mexico offers a complete and expert history of the country from the earliest times right through to the present. It will be welcomed by all those who visit Mexico to see its stunning Aztec and other pre-conquest remains as well as by students studying the Spanish conquest and its effects.Kenneth Pearce begins with life before the major civilizations of the area took hold then shows the growth of the first elite groups of the Olmecs and Mayans; their culture was finally subsumed into the mighty Aztec Empire which, in its turn, was tragically ended by the arrival of Cortes and might of Spain. The crushing burden of colonial rule driven by greed and oppression leads to further unrest for many centuries. The nineteenth-century War of Independence finally leads to the founding of the Mexican Republic. The author ends his survey with a portrait of the country facing the new millennium with a rising population and problems with drugs and corruption. This is a rich and colorful story of a nation full of life and vigor with a many-layered cultural heritage. Illustrated with maps and line drawings, this handy paperback is fully indexed with a chronology of major events and a gazetteer cross-referenced to the main text.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566565235
• ISBN13: 9781566565233
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group, Incorporated
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Concise and interesting history

This book has proven to be very interesting to our guests as they visit our new vacation home in Baja California, Mexico. They love browsing or reading it for insights into the country they are visiting.

An informative, engaging history

In A Traveller's History Of Mexico, historian Kenneth Pearce provides the reader with an informative, engaging history that begins the prehistoric life of the region, and continues with the coming of the Olmecs and the Mayans (1150-1000 BC), whose cultures were subsumed into the Aztec empire. The reader is treated to a vivid account of Aztec life and its ultimate demise with the arrival off the Spanish conquistadors. The consequent greed, corruption, and oppression of Spanish colonial rule and the Catholic Church are covered in detail. Pearce then moves on to the 19th Century War of Independence which led to the founding of the Mexican Republic, the brief reign of Emperor Maximilian and the Empress Carlotta, the dashing Santa Anna (who led the siege on the Alamo); revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, and other influential characters that were caught up in Mexico's' often violent power struggles. Highly recommended for personal, school, and community history collections, A Traveller's History Of Mexico concludes with the last 70 years of one-party political domination, recently ending with an election of the opposition, and the contemporary social issues of an expanding population, drugs, pollution, corruption, and an oppressed indigenous population.