Book jacket image for You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue

Riverhead

9780593544792

STARRED REVIEW

You Dreamed of Empires

You Dreamed of Empires offers a reimagined encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma. When history is retold in such an irreverent, unprecious manner, there are no winners—except the reader.

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Review of ‘You Dreamed of Empires’

It was Hernán Cortés who made the ludicrous claim that Moctezuma voluntarily surrendered sovereignty of the Aztec empire to the Spanish conquistadores. Cortés’ narrative is not easily believed, especially considering that he quotes Moctezuma as referencing the Christian Bible, but certainly there are those who believe that the Aztec people, either out of naiveté or…

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