| As the
once-great Aztec empire lay
in ruins, an illegitimate child was born to its conqueror, Hernan
Cortes.
The product of a union between the famous conquistador and his Mayan
slave
woman and translator, Malinche, the child was named Martin
Cortes-remembered
today by Mexicans as the first mestizo, emblematic of Mexico's origins.
In The
New World of Martin Cortes,
Anna Lanyon takes us on a journey of historical discovery, vividly
evoking
those extraordinary times when two empires-Spain and Mexico-collided.
This
is a tale of intrigue and identity, exploring Martin Cortes's relations
with his famous father, his half-brother of the same father and name
(Cortes
also named his second, legitimate son, Martin), his mother's indigenous
people; and his father's noble peers. As Lanyon unearths the life and
times
of Martin Cortes, we learn something about the processes of history and
legend as well, and the nature of the human spirit caught between two
worlds.
|
The New World Of
Martin Cortes
by
Anna Lanyon
Da
Capo Press, 2005
Order
a copy.
|
