Benjamin Keen (1913–2002)

This is an exhaustive and exhausting survey of how the Aztec civilization was discussed first in European writings and later in American and Mexican ones. The author starts from Spanish works written right after the conquest and finishes with scholarship published just prior to this book, so the scope is really impressive and I presume this must be the standard work on this subject. However, I also found the broad scope a bit irritating because the author has chosen to include everything he can find on the Aztecs, including works of fiction, poetry and art history. For the most part the book is a long list and it lacks the general argument about western worldviews that would have made this collection of snippets meaningful. I also would have liked to see the author adopt a more discriminating attitude toward second-rate works that merely parrot earlier ideas. In conclusion this is a comprehensive work but not really an intellectually stimulating one.… (altro)