The story of the war between the Aztec (Mexica) empire and the Spanish conquistadors is one of the most dramatic in world history. The accounts of the conquest are diverse and, at times, contradictory. Some sources claim King Montezuma truly believed the conquistador Hernan Cortés was the god Quetzalcoatl. But can these sources be trusted? Tune in and find out how psychedelic flute concerts, the Wizard of OZ, Scrooge McDuck, and novelist Vladimir Nabokov all play a role in the story!

Works Cited

Castillo, Bernal Díaz Del, and Alfred Percival M. A. Maudslay. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. New York: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.

Cortés, Hernán, and George Folsom. The Despatches of Hernando Cortés, the Conqueror of Mexico: Addressed to the Emperor Charles V, Written during the Conquest, and Containing a Narrative of Its Events. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2005. Print.

Florescano, Enrique. The Myth of Quetzalcoatl. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1999. Print.

León-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon, 2009. Print.

Levy, Buddy. Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs. New York: Bantam  Trade Paperbacks, 2009. Print.

Press, Berkeley Electronic. “Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico” by Camilla Townsend. Web. 17 Aug. 2017.

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Thomas, Hugh. The Conquest of Mexico. London: Pimlico, 2004. Print.

Townsend, Camilla. Malintzin’s Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico, 2007. Print.