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'Never before had the world seen four such giants coexisting. Sometimes friends, more often enemies, always rivals, these four men together held Europe in the hollow of their hands.' The colourful story of the four very different men who created our modern world: Henry VIII, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain and Suleiman the Magnificent: popular history at its best from John Julius Norwich.
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Liquid history
- By North Yorkshire on 25-10-20
Summary
The Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century was one of the most important and cataclysmic events in history. Spanish expeditions endured incredible hardships in order to open up the lands of the 'New World', and few stories in history can match these for drama and endurance.
In Conquistadors, Michael Wood follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventurers, travelling from the forests of Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, the deserts of North Mexico, the snow peaks of the Andes and the heights of Machu Picchu. He experiences the epic journeys of Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana and Cabeza de Vaca, and explores the turbulent and terrifying events surrounding the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.
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- Grace
- 21-06-16
Brilliant submersion into the New World
Absolutely loved this book. Quotes from primary texts brilliant woven into the narrative with breathtaking effect. Really took you back to the time and place of both the Spanish and Native cultures. The end becomes slower paced but the change in tone is very poignant.
2 people found this helpful
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- Andy Allison
- 22-06-15
A sad history of human nature
A well told but very sad narrative on the desolation of the indigenous peoples of the American continent.
Part of western history that's not told in great detail, probably due to guilt and embarrassment .
A gripping story.
2 people found this helpful
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- HellRazor
- 21-01-20
Entertaining & immersive historical tale
A very good, eloquent, well-written popular history of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Michael Wood has a knack for making his subject accessible without trivialising or dumbing it down in the process. Breaths life into an area that occasionally can become tedious and dull if not sprinkled with a little spice from the novelist's art. Could do without some of the moral conclusions, which ought to be left to the province if the reader. The only gripe about the work, other than I would have preferred a more expanded version. The narration was excellent.
1 person found this helpful
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- Dodes
- 29-07-20
Fascinating history well narrated
Michael Wood is pretty well known for his "In Search of" or "In the Footsteps of" works and tv series. Though I haven't seen the tv series attached to this book, I found this simply fascinating, not to mention devastating. To think of what might have been... Michael Wood writes lyrically, almost romantically at times and, even for a history book I never got bored. Telfer's narration is great - serious but with emotion, not to mention a wonderful voice. To my meager knowledge, his pronunciation of Spanish and names of American natives seems accurate. I'm would recommend getting the book for this as well - some lovely illustrations as well as photographs of places. I'm off to find another Michael Wood now... maybe Troy or Alexander...