"This investigation broadens our understanding of how preconquest Mexicans understood and presented themselves and how they used pictographic history for political and social ends. It also demonstrates how graphic writing systems developed, like mathematical or musical notation, to convey meaning directly and without a detour through speech, creating a broadly understood corpus of visual conventions that communicated effectively across ethnic and linguistic boundaries." "This book will be important reading not only for scholars of ancient Mexico, but also for avocational students of Pre-Columbian history who want to learn to read the Aztec and Mixtec codices and learn their stories and legends. Likewise, it offers food for thought to scholars in a variety of disciplines who think comparatively about histories and/or graphic systems of communication."--Jacket.