Aztecs: An Interpretation. By Inga Clendinnen. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xiii, 398. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $29.95.)

Abstract

Inga Clendinnen's Book-of-the-Month Club selection focuses on the most lurid aspect of pre-Hispanic Aztec culture: human sacrifice. She is specifically dealing with the Mexica of Tenochtitlan at the time of the Conquest, using almost exclusively information from Fray Bernardino de Sahagun's work. She attempts to construct how the ordinary citizens of Tenochtitlan would have understood the ceremonial performances of ritual sacrifice. It is Clendinnen's contention that all Mexica were implicated in the process, not just warriors and priests but all other residents of Tenochtitlan, male and female alike. Chimalpahin, or, to give his name in its fullest form, Domingo Francisco de San Anton Munon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, was a descendant of Indian nobility of the Chalco region, near the volcanic peaks that dominate Mexico City to the southeast, and was born in 1579 in Amaquemecan (Amecameca), a town within that region. He spent most of his adult life in Mexico City, apparently in lay service to

Streets and Open Spaces: Comparing Mobility and Urban Form at Angamuco and Chunchucmil, Mexico

“…Spanish descriptions of Aztec marketplaces capture some of the excitement of these exposures, including flirtation, gossip, ribaldry, fights, punishments, displays of wealth, and more. Many people strolled in the market not to sell or buy, but for mere pleasure (Clendinnen 1991:47–48, 159; de Zorita 1942:86; Durán 1951:216–217; Torquemada 1943:556). Moreover, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Spanish Crown incorporated the land tenure system of ejido (McBride 1923) as a way to formalize communal areas (such as open spaces) for public uses, such as hanging out, resting, and informal trade.…”