Captain Cortés Conquers Mexico

by William Weber Johnson

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Kelly Hohenstern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another landmark book. Fascinating history of Cortez and conquering the Aztecs. Sad story too, but important to read and learn from moving forward, as all history.

[Amy Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my expectations were very high going into this book since it's only the second Landmark I've read, and I've heard such glowing reviews of Landmark books in the homeschooling community. It was a very good book indeed, but I just thought it was going to be even better. It was not quite as interesting and exciting as I thought it would be. It started out promising, told through the eyes of Escobar, a young man who accompanied Cortes, but rarely references him later. The parts on Montezuma were sad. It portrays the Spaniards as completely greedy, but I liked how it showed their greed actually taking their lives in the end as they literally sank in the lake from the gold in their pockets. As a Baptist Christian, I hate the Catholicism that simply put up crosses and proclaimed that was Christianity. However, it also portrayed to some extent the horror of the human sacrifices of the pagan religion of the Aztecs, so that definitely was bad as well, and I was glad to read something that wasn't so infected with modern PC. I liked the ending paragraphs showing how both Spanish descendants and Aztecs fought for freedom from Spain in the end, hundreds of years later. Overall it was well-written, just a sad subject, and colonialism is such a loaded subject nowadays, I wanted to know how Landmark would portray Cortes. It certainly seems that the Spaniards cared only for their own wealth, not about the spread of Christendom.

[Stephanie N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnson is able to truly show a different side to the Aztec and other indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, and is able to portray them as a civilized society with their own beliefs and feelings. Where this book falters is the description of the Spanish. While the natives are given a developed personality, the Spanish seemingly have no emotion and only care about getting gold. It is often forgotten that the main character in this story is Escobar. He is only mention when the story is running out of action and needs someone to move the plot long faster. Thus he is more of a tool then an actual charterer.

[Weston M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a couple different books about Cortes and Montezuma and am fascinated by how everything happened. This book does a good job of showing the schemes of Cortes. I also like to read about the view of this topic from a different time period.

There is a part in the books I have read including this that Montezuma mentions that their ancestors came from across the ocean. BOM anyone? :)

[LaWindes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a miracle that Cortes and the spaniards came through this adventure alive. Was the Aztec nation being punished for its terrible practice of human sacrifice? Nicely illustrated. Too bad this happened before video cameras.

[Paithan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young adult version of Bernal Diaz’s “The Conquest of New Spain.”

As far as the writing in landmark books go, it is one of the better ones; it doesn’t spell things out for you in a heavy handed way.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Cortes - A conqueror or a 16th Century war criminal?

[Gracewellworn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed, interesting, and well written.