". . .the author has captured the sound, feel, and presumably the mind of the Nahuas, as drawn from codices and Spanish and beautifully rendered into English." –T. R. Fehrenbach

When Hernán Cortés and his explorers and their horses encountered the Aztecs under Moctezuma the violent collision of two worlds occurred: one mysteriously bound by the prophecy of the return of Quetzalcóatl and the other on a grand adventure without equal. This translation, written and illustrated by a former president of Mexico, takes the side of the Indian and through dramatic historical narrative, which displays the flavor of Mexico as it actually was in 1519, reveals the Indians' history of the Conquest. Through the author's clever justaposition of Cortés and Moctezuma and the love story of Marina and her Captain-General, we know more about how this strange land was conquered.

José López Portillo y Pacheco received his law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico before becoming President of the Republic of Mexico. He earned a professorship in political science and public administration at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His books include Génesis y Teoría General del Estado Moderno; Quetzalcóatl; Don Q; Mis Tiempos .

Translator Beatrice Berler received degrees from Trinity University and is a Fellow of Brandeis University. Her translations include three novels by Mariano Azuela and books by Leopoldo Zea, Hugo La Torre Cabal, Edmund S. Urbanski, and editing William Prescott's history of the conquest.