The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico (Penguin History) Paperback – July 26, 1991

I bought it after my trip to Mexico. I was interested in more information about the history. This book was very interesting.

This is my textbook to teach Latin American History. A bit advance for some students, but marvelous reading and images

A good companion to his book on the Aztec empire, this is an excellent introduction to history and legend of Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Toltecs and Aztecs. It also relates to the Maya. There is more of cultural development than history in the sections preceding the Aztecs. Davies is careful to differentiate history from legend so that there is no succession of rulers until the last Toltec, Quetzacoatl. There was then a two century gap before migration of the Mexicas, founding of Tenochticlan, overthrow of Tepanec hegemony and formation of the Aztec triple alliance. It covers Moctetuma's career prior to his fatal and somewhat puzzling decision to capitulate to Cortes.

I found "The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico" an enlightening introduction to Mesoamerica and a welcome break from the incessant focus on the Aztec and Maya to the exclusion of all others. The book is refreshingly well written, generally accessible and almost artfully cited on the middle ground between children's books ("daily life in" etc.) on the one hand and more or less scientific, serious, but rather dry books on the other.

I really enjoyed the first part on the Olmec people.It is true that you can get lost sometimes on details and must admit that i have skipped some technical parts.However, the book gives you a good idea of the history of central mexico before the spanish conquest.