HISTORY / Latin America / Central America
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Strike Fear in the Land
Pedro de Alvarado and the Conquest of Guatemala, 1520–1541
Written with literary flair, Strike Fear in the Land is an arresting saga of personalities and controversies, conveying as never before the turmoil of this pivotal period in Mesoamerican history.
The Formation of Latin American Nations
From Late Antiquity to Early Modernity
This pioneering work brings the pre-Columbian and colonial history of Latin America home: rather than starting out in Spain and following Columbus and the conquistadores as they “discover” New World peoples, The Formation of Latin American Nations begins with the Mesoamerican and South American nations as they were before the advent of European colonialism—and only then moves on to the sixteenth-century Spanish arrival and its impact.
African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama
A History in Documents
From the 1520s through the 1580s, thousands of African slaves fled captivity in Spanish Panama and formed their own communities in the interior of the isthmus. African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama, a primary source reader, edited by Robert C. Schwaller, documents this marronage in the context of five decades of African resistance to slavery.
“Strange Lands and Different Peoples”
Spaniards and Indians in Colonial Guatemala
Guatemala emerged from the clash between Spanish invaders and Maya cultures that began five centuries ago. The conquest of these “rich and strange lands,” as Hernán Cortés called them, and their “many different peoples” was brutal and prolonged. “Strange Lands and Different Peoples” examines the myriad ramifications of Spanish intrusion, especially Maya resistance to it and the changes that took place in native life because of it.
Nahuatl Theater
Nahuatl Theater Volume 1: Death and Life in Colonial Nahua Mexico
In this volume, Barry D. Sell and Louise M. Burkhart offer faithful transcriptions of the Nahuatl as well as new English translations of these remarkable dramas. Accompanying the plays are four interpretive essays and a foreword that broaden our understanding of these rare works.
Géneros de Gente in Early Colonial Mexico
Defining Racial Difference
Presenting a more complex picture of the ways difference came to be defined in colonial Mexico, this book exposes important tensions within Spanish colonialism and the developing social order. It affords a significant new view of the development and social experience of race—in early colonial Mexico and afterward.
War in the Land of True Peace
The Fight for Maya Sacred Places
From early struggles to remove foreign influence to present-day battles over land tenure and indigenous-run ecotourism parks, this book documents a continuity in Maya culture over several thousand years—and illuminates the world view, with its sense of personhood and religion so different from the West’s, that informs this enduring culture.
Independence in Central America and Chiapas, 1770–1823
Focusing on regional and small-town dynamics as well as urban elites, these essays combine to offer an unusually broad and varied perspective on and a new understanding of Central America in the period of independence.
Bonfires of Culture
Franciscans, Indigenous Leaders, and the Inquisition in Early Mexico, 1524–1540
In their efforts to convert indigenous peoples, Franciscan friars brought the Spanish Inquisition to early-sixteenth-century Mexico. Patricia Lopes Don now investigates these trials to offer an inside look at this brief but consequential episode of Spanish methods of colonization, providing a fresh interpretation of an early period that has remained too long understudied.
The Manuscript Hunter
Brasseur de Bourbourg's Travels through Central America and Mexico, 1854–1859
Coupled with Sainson’s thoughtful introduction and annotations, these captivating, accessible accounts reveal Brasseur de Bourbourg’s true accomplishments and offer an unrivaled view of the birth of Mesoamerican studies in the nineteenth century.

Strike Fear in the Land
Pedro de Alvarado and the Conquest of Guatemala, 1520–1541
Written with literary flair, Strike Fear in the Land is an arresting saga of personalities and controversies, conveying as never before the turmoil of this pivotal period in Mesoamerican history.
The Formation of Latin American Nations
From Late Antiquity to Early Modernity
This pioneering work brings the pre-Columbian and colonial history of Latin America home: rather than starting out in Spain and following Columbus and the conquistadores as they “discover” New World peoples, The Formation of Latin American Nations begins with the Mesoamerican and South American nations as they were before the advent of European colonialism—and only then moves on to the sixteenth-century Spanish arrival and its impact.
African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama
A History in Documents
From the 1520s through the 1580s, thousands of African slaves fled captivity in Spanish Panama and formed their own communities in the interior of the isthmus. African Maroons in Sixteenth-Century Panama, a primary source reader, edited by Robert C. Schwaller, documents this marronage in the context of five decades of African resistance to slavery.
“Strange Lands and Different Peoples”
Spaniards and Indians in Colonial Guatemala
Guatemala emerged from the clash between Spanish invaders and Maya cultures that began five centuries ago. The conquest of these “rich and strange lands,” as Hernán Cortés called them, and their “many different peoples” was brutal and prolonged. “Strange Lands and Different Peoples” examines the myriad ramifications of Spanish intrusion, especially Maya resistance to it and the changes that took place in native life because of it.
Nahuatl Theater
Nahuatl Theater Volume 1: Death and Life in Colonial Nahua Mexico
In this volume, Barry D. Sell and Louise M. Burkhart offer faithful transcriptions of the Nahuatl as well as new English translations of these remarkable dramas. Accompanying the plays are four interpretive essays and a foreword that broaden our understanding of these rare works.
Géneros de Gente in Early Colonial Mexico
Defining Racial Difference
Presenting a more complex picture of the ways difference came to be defined in colonial Mexico, this book exposes important tensions within Spanish colonialism and the developing social order. It affords a significant new view of the development and social experience of race—in early colonial Mexico and afterward.
War in the Land of True Peace
The Fight for Maya Sacred Places
From early struggles to remove foreign influence to present-day battles over land tenure and indigenous-run ecotourism parks, this book documents a continuity in Maya culture over several thousand years—and illuminates the world view, with its sense of personhood and religion so different from the West’s, that informs this enduring culture.
Independence in Central America and Chiapas, 1770–1823
Focusing on regional and small-town dynamics as well as urban elites, these essays combine to offer an unusually broad and varied perspective on and a new understanding of Central America in the period of independence.
Bonfires of Culture
Franciscans, Indigenous Leaders, and the Inquisition in Early Mexico, 1524–1540
In their efforts to convert indigenous peoples, Franciscan friars brought the Spanish Inquisition to early-sixteenth-century Mexico. Patricia Lopes Don now investigates these trials to offer an inside look at this brief but consequential episode of Spanish methods of colonization, providing a fresh interpretation of an early period that has remained too long understudied.
The Manuscript Hunter
Brasseur de Bourbourg's Travels through Central America and Mexico, 1854–1859
Coupled with Sainson’s thoughtful introduction and annotations, these captivating, accessible accounts reveal Brasseur de Bourbourg’s true accomplishments and offer an unrivaled view of the birth of Mesoamerican studies in the nineteenth century.