The Conquistadores (Men-at-Arms)

This Osprey offering is another excellent one from them. Filled with great drawings, maps and facts.

A considerable part of this book talks about the Aztec, Maya and Inca. While it has got really valuable information, not all assertions should be taken to letter. The European vision of Native americans is still predominant in most works, and it is still polluted with myths and false assumptions about facts and ideology of these peoples.It is a great introductory book, thanks to the Conquistadores (which are familiar to us), and it has beautiful and quite accurate drawings. However, if Aztec and Maya history is what catches your interest, and you are willing to dig deeper, I HUGELY recommend looking for some Mexican authors, who have a different take on the subject: what Mesoamerican peoples thought, and what their traditions really were, not through the conquerors' eyes. Pablo Moctezuma Barragan, Miguel de Leon-Portilla and Ignacio Romerovargas are good examples. Be warned however, that these authors may display too much nationalism. All in all, when reading ANYTHING about Prehispanic American civilizations, it is recommended to be critical and apply your own criteria.I recommend this book to anyone who is eager to learn something about what the Conquest of the most powerful nations in America was like.

This book really helped flesh out Bernal Diaz's account of the fall of the 'Aztec' Empire for me. The first part of the text concerns the gear of the Conquistadores themselves, with the following catagories being the Aztecs/Mexica, the Inca, and the Maya, the three major enemies the Spaniards found in the New World. The plates are awesome, depicting, among others, noble Incan warriors, a freaky-looking Maya spearman, and a plain nasty Aztec priest with the heart of his most recent victim.

More than half the text is dedicated to the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans, rather than the titled Conquistadores. One would think that these extensive descriptions were pertinent to a later discussion about the various conflicts the Conquistadors had with these tribes. But no. Once the author has gone into detail about the natives, the book just ends with descriptions of the artwork pages (plates). If I wanted a book about the Aztecs, Incas, or Mayans, I would've purchased one with those names in the title. When I purchased this complete ripoff, I had expected there to be more text actually discussing the Conquistadors. Avoid this particular volume from Osprey. I'm sure there are much better products elsewhere.

Great product.

Excellent

Great

Awesom condition

I bought this book to work on a graphic novel that involves a lot of Conquistador imagery. While this is a good book only half of it is devoted to Conquistadors. The other half covers basic info on the Aztecs, Maya and Incas. Only two of the eight colour plates are Conquistadors. I bought another book on the Aztecs, so the info in this one is redundant. I wish Osprey had simply devoted this entire book to the Conquistadors and included far greater detail, including more examples of armour & weapons, as well as gear such as canteens & packs, what type of shelter was used in the field? As well, some of the black and white photos look like they came out of a xerox machine and it's impossible to see any detail in some of them. Other than the Conquistadors, the section on the Inca was the most useful because unfortunately the only other Osprey book on the Inca concerns their fortifications.

Avevo bisogno di sapere come fossero abbigliati gli antichi Conquistadores, che armi portavano, quali tecniche di battaglia impiegassero. Questo utile e agile libro della Osprey mi ha aiutato in questa ricerca.