Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

Written by Camilla Townsend

Narrated by Christina Delaine

In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story—and the story of what happened afterwards—has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars.



For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705217085

Camilla Townsend

Camilla Townsend is associate professor of history at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is the author of Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma and Tales of Two Cities.

Reviews for Fifth Sun

[Helane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was great. It wasn’t a topic I thought I was interested in until I started reading this book.

[NoelReneCisnerosPeña · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

(Hago mi reseña en español porque es la lengua que mejor domino)
Impresionante historia de mexica (se aclara que el término Aztec es usado para denominar a los habitantes del valle de México hablantes de nahuatl ellos nunca se reconocieron con ese término). A través de las fuentes en nahuatl escritas en los siguientes ochenta años después de la conquista de Tenochtitlan Townsend reconstruye la historia de este pueblo que dominaba el centro de lo que hoy es México y al que se enfrentaron Cortés y sus huestes. Así muestra los conflictos políticos, las tradiciones culturales que configuraban el mundo nahuatl hacia los siglos XIV, XV y principios del XVI, la manera en la que Tenochtitlan se convirtió en la fuerza dominante del valle y después comenzó a expandirse, cómo los conflictos sucesorios marcaban la historia de los altetepe y cómo todo ello contribuyó al desarrollo de los eventos que tuvieron lugar entre 1519 y 1521. Pero Townsend no se queda en la conquista y despacha el asunto por visto, narra como este pueblo se adaptó al nuevo mundo y cómo sobrevivió en él, cómo algunos de ellos utilizaron las herramientas europeas a su favor (como la escritura) y así lograron legar la historia de su pueblo y su propia historia (así aparecen Chimalpopoca y Chimalpaín). También Malintzin, la intérprete, aparece y se le dedica un capítulo tanto para mostrar sus condiciones como la forma en que logró amoldarse al mundo cambiante, también su hijo aparece. Muchos personajes, junto con los tlatoani tenochcas, los gobernadores indígenas del cabildo de la ciudad de México, las princesas que dieron su legitimidad a sus hijos y sellaron alianzas -Isabel Ixcuepon, la hija de Moctezuma y Leonor de Alvarado fueron ejemplos que los españoles conocieron-.

[Francesco · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A work of astonishing quality down to the finest detail. To learn about the culture of ancient Mexico is not as easy as learning about Rome or India, it is much more difficult (unless one is contented with the Spanish made rubbish they taught us at school). This book is not only an exquisite compendium of the history of the Mexica, but also contains a list of all available Nahuatl sources, something that heralds a new era in the global understanding of Mexico. Just learn Nahuatl and you can become your own expert. I am grateful to the author, she must be an extremely intelligent person and also to the narrator who did a phenomenal job, even down to the pronunciation.

[Mary Bull · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really worthwhile - detailed enough for historians, interesting for general readers. The postscript about use of sources is especially good

[ilaureano · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book presents, in narrative form, the history of the Nahuas centered on the Mexicas: how they formed their civilization, their worldview, the complex interrelations they maintained with other altepeme (the plural of altépetl – lordship), and how this delicate balance was disrupted with the arrival of the strangers, the Castilians. Townsend, the author, shares the perspective and way of thinking of the Nahuas, and the strangeness of the customs of the strangers, the Europeans. Her narration dispels all the myths disseminated, primarily by the Spaniards, but also by some of the early indigenous chroniclers and the misconceptions of many archaeologists. Her narration also covers the early and chaotic years of the colony, right after the conquest, the political failures of the Spaniards, who could not understand the nature of the indigenous people, and ultimately recounts the efforts of some indigenous chroniclers who strived to rescue their people from oblivion. (Translated from Spanish)

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A history of the people now commonly known as the Aztec Empire, with the arrival of Cortez treated as a big shock but not as the end or beginning of the story, using whenever possible the records they left of themselves—which are relatively extensive given that they had written pictograph records before Cortez and quickly adopted an alphabetical system.

[amberluscious · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was desperately needed. It was a treasure to read about my ancestors from their perspective. It was also good to finally read about the Mexica experience prior to the conquering European settlers. I am grateful that Townsend is the kind of scholar that felt the necessity to force her perspective towards the unknown and the oft silenced and invisibilized voices by the white-european researcher.

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though I suspect that the author has cannibalized out a lot of her previous work for this monograph there is a lot of food for thought here, and one has to respect the effort to reconstruct a "Mexica" perspective on their own history based on their own narratives. The single most important aspect of this book is to normalize the so-called "Aztecs" in regards to the Spanish depictions of their culture, downplaying the human sacrifice and the supposed reception of Cortes as a god (Spanish propaganda) and emphasizing the rational reception to the Spanish invasion. Recommended.