Moctezuma's Mexico: Visions of the Aztec World

This is a splendid book detailing life in Mexico before the conquest by the Spaniards. Beginning with the inside covers the book is rich in pictoral description. The endpapers are beautiful color reproductions of Diego Rivera's "The Great City of Tenochtitlan", a lavish tribute mural of Aztec life that adorns the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. The color is magnificent throughout the book and includes many artifacts left from the ancient Aztecs. The book also includes a great little glossary that includes a pronunciation guide to Nahuatl terms. The glossary serves as a fine introduction to the Nahuatl Language and it's phonetics. Although the authors and contributors are scholars, the book is easy to read for the average person interested in archaeology and Pre-Columbian life in Mexico. The color plates are some of the finest and include rare glimpses into Codex's that are housed in museums. A magnificent book to use as reference. The book is also a great source of information for further research as it includes a selected bibliography. An excellent view of Aztec life, it compliments any personal library. If you love the Art of Pre-Columbian Mexico this book is also a source of inspiration.

Developed by four distinguished Mesoamerican scholars for an exhibit at the Denver Museum of Natural History (1992 - 1993). Great photographs of artifacts (jade masks, human skulls, sculptures), buildings and manuscripts. Well-written (not dry or too scholarly). It's been on my coffee table for years but I never tire of looking at it.