{"product_id":"cortes-and-diaz-saints-or-andrew-waldron-9798189725913","title":"Cortes and Diaz, Saints or Savages: The Truth About Their Search For Gold, God And Glory","description":"Two men crossed into Mesoamerica in search of gold, God and glory. One became the celebrated architect of conquest. The other became the eyewitness determined to stop him taking all the credit.\u003cbr\u003eHernan Cortes and Bernal Diaz del Castillo helped bring down the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan and open the way for Spanish rule. Yet the familiar story of a tiny European force defeating a mighty empire hides a more complicated reality: indigenous alliances, local rivalries, translators, coercion, faith, ambition and calculated violence all shaped the outcome.\u003cbr\u003eCortes and Diaz, Saints or Savages asks the question at the heart of their legacy. Did the conquistadors bring law, Christianity and a new political order - or did they use those ideals to legitimise plunder, massacre and domination?\u003cbr\u003eAndrew Waldron follows the campaign from the culture of imperial Spain and the first encounters on the coast to Tlaxcala, Cholula, Moctezuma, the siege of Tenochtitlan and the colonial system that followed. Along the way, he examines Cortes as strategist and self-made commander, Diaz as participant and unreliable witness, and the indigenous peoples whose choices made conquest possible without making its consequences just.\u003cbr\u003eAccessible, questioning and morally serious, this is a history of conquest without easy heroes or convenient villains. It is for readers interested in the Mexica and Maya worlds, the Spanish Empire, indigenous resistance, early modern warfare and the uneasy relationship between civilisation and brutality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Andrew Waldron\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798189725913\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/29\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 154\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.47lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.36d","brand":"Andrew Waldron","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50666026991871,"sku":"9798189725913","price":7.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/cortes-and-diaz-saints-or-andrew-waldron-9798189725913","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}