"The History of the Conquest of Mexico is William Prescott's epic account of Cortes's subjugation of the Aztec people, one that endures as a landmark work of nineteenth-century historiography and dramatic storytelling. Published in ten languages and republished at least two hundred times since its first publication in 1843, it presents a compelling view of the clash of civilizations that reverberates in Latin America to this day.

The Conquest of Mexico, judged Prescott's biographer Harry Thurston Peck, is "one of the most brilliant examples which the English language possesses of literary art applied to historical narration," and literary critic Donald A. Ringe calls it "that rare type of book which satisfies fully the demands of both history and art.""--BOOK JACKET.