When Montezuma Met Cortes

The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History

By: Matthew Restall

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Cortés that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the Americas

On November 8, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés first met Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, at the entrance to the capital city of Tenochtitlan. This introduction—the prelude to the Spanish seizure of Mexico City and to European colonization of the mainland of the Americas—has long been the symbol of Cortés’s bold and brilliant military genius. Montezuma, on the other hand, is remembered as a coward who gave away a vast empire and touched off a wave of colonial invasions across the hemisphere.

But is this really what happened? In a departure from traditional tellings, When Montezuma Met Cortés uses “the Meeting”—as Restall dubs their first encounter—as the entry point into a comprehensive reevaluation of both Cortés and Montezuma. Drawing on rare primary sources and overlooked accounts by conquistadors and Aztecs alike, Restall explores Cortés’s and Montezuma’s posthumous reputations, their achievements and failures, and the worlds in which they lived—leading, step by step, to a dramatic inversion of the old story. As Restall takes us through this sweeping, revisionist account of a pivotal moment in modern civilization, he calls into question our view of the history of the Americas, and, indeed, of history itself.

Exceptional history-changing book marred by distracting narrator

Monumental work.
But the narrator detracted from an otherwise exceptional work by the constant annoying addition of unnecessary “r”s at the end of words like “Montezuma-r, Tlatelolco-r, and Texcoco-r and such.
Very distracting.

Great History Lesson

I very much enjoyed the author's update on the Cortez the Conquistador tale that we learned in school. The evidence he gave for his conclusions was substantial and compelling. Perhaps the last third was a little too detailed for my tastes. There were so many native Mexican and Spanish names that I honestly couldn't keep track of who was doing what. More broader strokes would've sufficed for me.
The narration was very good except it was a bit sluggish for my taste. I sped it up a notch, and that helped a lot. For this subject, I may have sought someone with a Mexican or Spanish accent instead of British, but his pronunciation of all the varied names, places and events seemed very good to me. It's worth a listen of you're interested in this topic.

A much-needed revision to Conquest of Mexico story

Matthew Restall is right: our view of what happened "when Montezuma met Cortés" has been completely distorted by 5 centuries of mythmaking, misrepresentations, and outright fabrications, all centered on the larger-than-life figure of Cortés. Beginning with his letters to Carlos I in the 1520s, and the hagiography of him by Gómara shortly thereafter, Cortés's central role in the Conquest has been portrayed as one of complete control and mastery of the events that led to the fall of Tenochtitlan. Even as historical interpretations of Cortés have changed throughout the centuries--from a courageous deliverer of Christianity and civilization to a brutally violent and genocidal warmonger-- he is constantly portrayed as a brilliant, yet conniving, strategist, with perfect information, and in complete control of the events.

Restall's thoroughly researched book does two things brilliantly. One, he shows us, through what must have been an exhaustive reading of every narrative ever written about the Conquest since it happened more than 500 years ago, HOW the story became shaped and WHY it's been so hard to dislodge, even today. And two, he broadens our view of those events between 1519-1521 as they actually unfolded in the real world of Mesoamerican politics, a world Cortés had little insight into (his two translators notwithstanding), and even less control over.

There is a lot of underlying humor in the book as Restall highlights some of the more absurd reimaginings various authors came up with recreating the narrative. I found myself chuckling many times as I listened to the book. I thought the narration was terrific, spot on.

Boring

The author’s point could have been made in an article. This book is just way to long. Making it worse is the haughty English reader. I gave up in chapter six.

Worth reading

While this book uses clear language and is definitely overall a good read/listen the author falls into The same speculative guess work that he is claiming to depose. While his interpretation of how the events took place seems highly likely he over states the theory as a fact which is just as improvable as the ones he is debunking. However just hearing all the possible differences and likelihoods is a great way to open our minds into viewing the historical telling of the events differently and understanding that the traditional telling is false and written by the victors.
The voice artist’s reading the audiobook may make the author seem a little more haughty and matter-of-fact then he intended when writing the book. So I’m saying my opinion of the author assertions might be interfered with by the readers vocal inflection choices and tone. I would highly recommend you listening for yourself!