Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs

Written by Buddy Levy

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish expire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán, Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, and commander of the most powerful military in the Americas. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astounding battles ever waged.



The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jul 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9781400176540

Buddy Levy

BUDDY LEVY is the author of more than half a dozen books, including Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk; Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition; Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs; River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana and the Deadly First Voyage Through the Amazon. He is coauthor of No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon and Geronimo: Leadership Strategies of an American Warrior. His books have been published in a dozen languages and won numerous awards. He lives in Idaho.

Reviews for Conquistador

[Ryan Pynchon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would recommend this book. The book covers the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortez in rich detail. The book does well to include first-hand accounts from Bernal Diaz, narrating events such as the Aztec festival of xipe totec, the capture of Montezuma, and the final approach of Tenochtlan. The book is written in the form of a story and is a pleasure to read from beginning to end. I would read it again.

[Patrick Wynne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All my life I believed the horrible Hollywood and Disney depictions of Cortez.

This was an excellent book and I am grateful that this hero eliminated this plague of Aztec culture from this world. I now see why they were called savages.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An amazing story given its due.This is a somewhat complex story but one of high interest and great adventure. It's almost hard to believe. Calling it an adventure may not be politically correct in light of the death of a significant culture, but that is how people at the time saw it and the end result is the birth of modern Mexico, a violent merger of cultures. As in River of Darkness Levy focuses on combat but also provides bigger picture and politics. One can see patterns being set that would replay well into the 20th century between Europeans and natives.

[marshapetry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little hard to follow who's where at what ancient city but overall great book. Fascinating, though ultimately tragic, book about European desire to dominate and ruin other south and central native cultures. Just really hard to read about how we treated natives(and still do)

[darrell.newton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well researched and balanced. I love how the author quotes primary sources as part of a well-written narrative. This book is a great blend between historical research and story telling. Although the events in this book are not easy to read (human sacrifice, cannibalism, civilian massacre, torture, etc.), they are necessary elements to the narrative, and show that both the conquistadors and the Aztecs were barbaric (the Conquistadors less so).

[zen_923 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is well-written and informative. It feels like reading a novel based on a true story. Even if i already read a lot about this topic and watched so many documentaries already, it was still able to provide new things for me. An added bonus is that the book is both short and concise, so you won't have to worry about it becoming too tedious to read.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Vivid, fascinating, and completely engrossing.

[tuckerresearch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fine narrative account of the conquest of the Aztec Empire by Hernando Cortés. Levy has done his work here, admirably going through all the printed primary sources and standard secondary works. Prescott's old study was good in the nineteenth century, and Hugh Thomas's thick brick of a book is as well-written as this one, but dense, scholarly, erudite, and it drags in places. Thomas's is where you need to go to as a scholar; Levy is where you need to go to for a delightful, quick read. Levy tells the story from the Aztec and Spanish side, without leaning to hard on either side or condemning either side. An admirable account. This is history for the general reader.

[jgolomb_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written and concise tales of Cortez in New Spain (Mexico). Very readable and enjoyable.

[lloydville · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Prescott's magisterial study remains the standard work on the conquest of the Aztec empire by Hernan Cortes. Thomas's is the standard modern study, incorporating scholarship since Prescott and abandoning Prescott's 19th-century biases. But you won't find find a better narrative history of this astonishing campaign than Buddy Levy's recent book -- superbly written and gripping from start to finish. No matter how many times you read the story of this surreal clash of empires and cultures, your mind simply boggles at the strangeness of it all, at the courage and brutality shown by both sides, and above all at the audaciousness of Cortes and the magnitude of what he accomplished in so short a time. It's stirring, heartbreaking, incredible stuff.

[atomicmutant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing story, 350 pages of stuff you just couldn't make up. Incredible, larger-than-life people, environments, cities, events.
Reads like a novel, highly recommended.

[jmcilree_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well done, but you can't go wrong with the material. To me, the conquest of the Aztecs is the most fascinating war. The Spaniards were vastly outnumbered, but had superior firepower, strategy, tactics and political acumen. Maybe most importantly, the had better luck and went for the jugular. The Aztecs twice (!!) had Cortes captured, and rather than kill him immediately attempted to take him back to their temple so they could ritually kill him. Two lost chances.

Other books on this, equally as fascinating are Bernal Diaz del Castillo's Conquest of Mexico and Leon-Portilla's The Broken Spears.

Levy did an excellent job. Highly recommended.