Rating: 5 out of 5
Since the latter part of last year I have been listening to the ‘Rest Is History’ after quite a few recommendations suggest I turn to it. That is what made me pick up the book by Mr Sandbrook when I saw it in a house of a friend of mine. Overall, this is a solid history which I really enjoyed and which also has sufficient amounts of actual reference to sources and things we know about.
The style throughout the book was pretty light but that doesn’t mean that the author didn’t go into the difficult topics. In most cases things that turned out as massacres were described as such. On the contentious issues, the author liked to go and support his claims with the state of the research and references to researchers in certain cases as well.
If there’s anything to detract from the message here, it’s the backstory. The author doesn’t necessarily focus on the events or the state, but instead on the leading characters: Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma (Montezuma). Much of Cortés’ backstory is not directly relevant but a good few chapters are spent on Hispaniola nonetheless. I think it helps understand the conquest, however, so from the point of view of this book it’s understandable to do it, even if it leads too much into a biographical narration.
Much as I began with, I will just add that I liked this book and I think it’s a good opening to anyone wanting to learn about the Mexica people and their demise.
