The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico

By Miguel León-Portilla

Book Overview

The revolutionary account of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, through the eyes of the vanished, challenging colonial narratives and centering Aztec voices

A limited Beacon Classics edition, with a gorgeous spot gloss cover and retro, classic palette

For hundreds of years, the history of the conquest of Mexico and the defeat of the Aztecs has been told in the words of the Spanish victors. This is only a small part of the full story. Miguel Le n-Portilla has long been at the forefront of expanding that history to include the voices of indigenous peoples. Portilla's work translating and compiling the voices contained within the pages of The Broken Spears has been revered since the book's original Spanish publication in 1959 and original English publication in 1962.

In this new edition of his classic, Le n-Portilla's work to unearth the voices of Aztec people from the past and the present continues to illuminate untold realities of colonization. His work includes accounts from those present at the time of the conquest of Mexico and has been expanded to include accounts from native Aztec descendants across the centuries since. These texts bear witness to the extraordinary vitality of an oral tradition that preserves the viewpoints of the vanquished instead of the victors.

Through these firsthand accounts from Aztec peoples, a new story about the conquest of Mexico unfolds. Portilla translates these stories, but he also investigates how these firsthand accounts came to be, remaining cognizant of what can be lost in translation, and the stakes of allowing history to be written by the victors.

The Broken Spears is an exemplary body of historical work that seeks to challenge the pervasiveness of colonial narratives and continues to shape the study of history to this day.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807019054
• ISBN13: 9780807019054
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The Other Perspective of the Conquest

Miguel Leon-Portillo's collection of Nahua accounts of the Spanish conquest affords the reader a unique opportunity to experience the conquest through the mind of the Amerindian. The book records the human response of the Nahuatl speaking peoples of central Mexico to the strange and terrifying events that ultimately destroyed their city and their way of life. Through songs, pictures, and oral tradition, the plight of the people was preserved, and some of the more powerful and eloquent of these are represented in "The Broken Spears." Do not expect an objective historical account of the conquest from this book. That is not the intention, as clearly stated by Leon-Portillo in his introduction. Rather, it is a glimpse into how the natives responded to and came to terms with events that were so strange and frightening to them that they bordered on the apocalyptic. What the reader gains, then, is an eloquent testimony to the passion and intellect of the native people of central Mexico who were so often, in many Spanish accounts, reduced to barbaric, blood-thirsty savages with little capacity for human sympathy.

Essential Reading when Studying the Conquest

This is an excellent primary source of information written fron the Aztecs viewpoint. Bernal Diaz's book is an excellent companion study to compare the different perspectives of both primary parties involved. The illustrations and the narrative are very elementary, an easy read with simple drawings to compliment the text. The viewpoint, which is the Aztecs is interesting and different from what you might suppose. If you are intersted in Pre-Columbian culture in Mexico this is a fundamental book covering the Conquest of Mexico. For a balanced view read this along with Bernal Diaz's book to get a complete picture from participants of that fateful time in history when the Old World collided with the New World to create a new culture. A must have book for anyone into Mexico and it's roots.

What the textbooks don't tell you...

This is a great book to read along with Bernal Diaz's Conquest of Mexico/New Spain. Told from a variety of Aztec viewpoints, these eyewitness accounts directly contradict what the Spanish reported. Obviously, both are right and wrong--and that's what makes this so good. (Excellent for high school students who want to see the choices historians have to make between differing primary sources.) It's a 9 read alone, a 10 when combined with Diaz.