Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs

The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs, the first of its kind, provides a current overview of recent research on the Aztec empire, the best documented prehispanic society in the Americas. Chapters span from the establishment of Aztec city-states to the encounter with the Spanish empire and the Colonial period that shaped the modern world. Articles in the Handbook take up new research trends and methodologies and current debates. The Handbook articles are dividedinto seven parts. Part I, Archaeology of the Aztecs, introduces the Aztecs, as well as Aztec studies today, including the recent practice of archaeology, ethnohistory, museum studies, and conservation. The articles in Part II, Historical Change, provide a long-term view of the Aztecs starting with importantpredecessors, the development of Aztec city-states and imperialism, and ending with a discussion of the encounter of the Aztec and Spanish empires. Articles also discuss Aztec notions of history, writing, and time. Part III, Landscapes and Places, describes the Aztec world in terms of its geography, ecology, and demography at varying scales from households to cities. Part IV,Economic and Social Relations in the Aztec Empire, discusses the ethnic complexity of the Aztec world and social and economic relations that have been a major focus of archaeology. Articles in Part V, Aztec Provinces, Friends, and Foes, focuses on the Aztec's dynamic relations with distant provinces, and empires and groups that resisted conquest, and even allied with the Spanish to overthrow the Aztec king. This is followed by Part VI, Ritual, Belief, and Religion, which examines the differentbeliefs and rituals that formed Aztec religion and their worldview, as well as the material culture of religious practice. The final section of the volume, Aztecs after the Conquest, carries the Aztecs through the post-conquest period, an increasingly important area of archaeological work, andconsiders the place of the Aztecs in the modern world.

This comprehensive treatment, and the substantive nature of the 49 contributions, will stand the test of time, particularly in that it spans seven pivotal themes, including archaeology, historical change, landscapes, economic and social relations, provinces, ritual, belief, religion, and the Aztecs after the Conquest. The impressive range and depth of topics addressed is without parallel in Aztec studies, and clearly speaks to how far this critical area of inquiry has advanced in recent years. ... Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

Deborah L. Nichols is the William J. Bryant 1925 Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College and Chair of the Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Programs. She has written nearly 100 articles and co-edited five books and directed numerous archaeological projects in Mexico. She is currently co-director with Wesley Stoner of the Altica research project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and National Geographic Society.Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría is Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Archaeology and History of Colonial Mexico (Cambridge, 2016), and co-editor of The Menial Art of Cooking (with Sarah Graff, Colorado, 2012). He is currently co-director with Kristin De Lucia of a research project on communal ritual space in Xaltocan, Mexico, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.