This is both a specific study of conversion in a corner of the Spanish Empire, and a work with implications for the understanding of European domination and native resistance throughout the colonial world. Dr Clendinnen explores the intensifying conflict between competing and increasingly divergent Spanish visions of Yucatan and its destructive outcomes. She seeks to penetrate the ways of thinking and feeling of the Mayan Indians in a detailed reconstruction of their assessment of the intruders.
• Winner of the Bolton Prize as the best book in Latin American history • Written by a world-renowned author • First edition was a very popular account of Latin American history
Contents
Part I. Spaniards: 1. Explorers; 2. Conquerors; 3. Settlers; 4. Missionaries; 5. Conflict; 6. Crisis; 7. Attrition; 8. Retrospections; Epilogue: The hall of mirrors; Part II. Indians: 9. Finding out; 10. Connections; 11. Continuities; 12. Assent; Epilogue: Confusion of tongues.
Reviews
‘Ambivalent Conquests sets a high standard of elegance in style and argument.’ Nancy Farriss, Hispanic American Historical Review
‘This is a splendid book by a gifted historian.’ Steve J. Stern, American Historical Review
‘This is an intricate story, by turns exhilarating and depressing, of cultural interaction among parties whose motives were consciously and unconsciously at variance. . . . Clendinnen's reconstruction is a model of historical intelligence and anthropological empathy couched in superbly crafted prose." Frederick P. Bowser, Latin American Research Review
‘[Clendinnen’s] analysis of the symbolic forms of everyday life sheds new light on the relationship between the ‘social’ and the ‘sacred’.’ Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
‘A worthwhile contribution.’ Matthew Restall, UCLA Historical Journal
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