Overview

Malintzin was the indigenous woman who translated for Hernando Cortés in his dealings with the Aztec emperor Moctezuma in the days of 1519 to 1521. The Spanish called her doña Marina, and she has become known to posterity as La Malinche. As Malinche, she has long been regarded as a traitor to her people, a dangerously sexy, scheming woman who gave Cortés whatever he wanted out of her own self-interest. The life of the real woman, however, was much more complicated. She was sold into slavery as a child, and eventually given away to the Spanish as a concubine and cook. If she managed to make something more out of her life--and she did--it is difficult to say at what point she did wrong. In getting to know the trials and intricacies with which Malintzin's life was laced, we gain new respect for her steely courage, as well as for the bravery and quick thinking demonstrated by many other Native Americans in the earliest period of contact with Europeans. In this study of Malintzin's life, Camilla Townsend rejects all the previous myths and tries to restore dignity to the profoundly human men and women who lived and died in those days. She breathes new life into an old tale, and offers insights into the major issues of conquest and colonization, including technology and violence, resistance and accommodation, gender and power.

Full Product Details

9798874859862

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Camilla Townsend is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. She is the author of numerous books, including Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, and The Annals of Native America: How the Nahuas of Colonial Mexico Kept Their History Alive, which won multiple prizes, among them the Albert J. Beveridge Award awarded by the American Historical Association. EJ Lavery grew up in the dying heartland of Michigan, the adopted daughter of Mexican migrant workers whose well-being was entrusted to the success of the Detroit auto industry. Raised an only child by her loving grandparents, EJ's imagination was fueled by the books they always found the money to buy her. The magic in the pages transformed the rural landscape into an adventure, and her dreamer's heart rewrote her story into something extraordinary. Persistently curious, EJ pursued a bachelor's degree in theater at the University of Michigan, and then a bachelor's degree in biology at the University of Massachusetts. She's explored lava tubes and glaciers in Iceland, wandered in the footsteps of Lord Byron in Croatia, followed the Von Trapp children through the Mirabell Gardens, and fangirled at the final resting place of Beethoven. When not spinning tales for the world, EJ can be found exploring the outdoors with her husband and her Australian Shepherd, Adelaide. With an ever-growing stack of books-to-be-read, she can still be seen perusing bookstores, listening to the beckoning whispers from the shelves of horror, mystery, true crime, and young adult tales. Even when the seconds are spare, EJ will still slip away for some quiet moments with her piano or cello.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available