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Seller's Description:
Good (ex-library with labels and stamps on spine, block, inside front and rear covers and title page verso. Light soiling to upper block, light shelfwear but pages are otherwise clean. ) Brown cloth boards with gilt lettering; tan dj with black lettering and bw illustration, mylar cover; xvi, 308 pp, bw illustrations. Why were a handful of Spaniards able to overthrow the Aztec Empire? The dramatic destruction of the Aztecs has prompted historians, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to look closely at the health and nutrition of the Valley of Mexico. If the Aztecs were overcrowded, living at the edge of starvation, and incapable of treating disease effectively, then their decimation by the Europeans becomes much easier to understand. Bernard Ortiz de Montellano argues that such hypotheses do not hold up. Rather, at the time of the Conquest, the Aztecs were a thriving, well-nourished, healthy people. The swift, brutal success of the conquistadors cannot be explained by the prior ill-health or medical incompetence of their victims. To support his case, Ortiz de Montellano uses an astonishing array of evidence gained from many disciplines. Ortiz de Montellano presents the most comprehensivve and detailed explanation of Aztec medical beliefs available in English. --From publisher's description. Contents: Aztec culture at the time of the conquest--Aztec religion, worldview and medicine--Population and carrying capacity of the basin of Mexico--The Aztec diet: food sources and their nutritional value--Epidemiology--Diagnosing and explaining illness--Curing illness--Syncretism in Mexican fold medicine--Nutritional values and amino acid composition of Aztec foods--Empirical evaluation of Aztec medicinal herbs.
