-In this study of complex beliefs in which Aztec religion and Spanish Catholicism blend, Lafaye demonstrates the importance of religious beliefs in the formation of the Mexican nation. Far from being of only parochial interest, this volume is of great value to any historian of religions concerned with problems of nativism and syncretism.---Franke J. Neumann, Religious Studies Review

The great inquiry into the nature of Aztec civilization began at the very moment of its destruction in the name of the Spanish Crown and Church. The overwhelming discovery of a vast, luxurious overseas empire offering fresh evidence of the enormous diversity of customs and opinions among the nations of the earth expanded the imaginative as well as the geographic horizons of Renaissance Europe. In The Aztec Image, Benjamin Keen explores the shifting attitudes and focus of the scores of historians, philosophers, scientists, and men of letters and the arts who dealt with the Aztec theme in the...

A controversial figure in his own day (1474-1566), Las Casas might well be the New World's first political activist. Championing the cause of the Indians in Overseas Spain, Las Casas threw his heart, soul, and fortune into a highly volatile movement. This collection of essays offers an understanding of the man and his work.

A text for introductory Latin American history courses that encompasses political and diplomatic theory, class structure and economic organization, culture and religion, and the environment. It uses both a chronological and a nation-by-nation approach, and