Miguel Leon-Portilla's The Broken Spears

Another critic named George L. Cowgill, a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, argued that Leon-Portilla’s use of sources mostly came from Sahagun’s Codex Florentino and other numerous native sources that fit well to create the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico. Cowgill felt that Leon-Portilla’s book did a successful job in achieving its purpose of telling the story through the account of the natives and the overall story seemed to flow very well as a narrative. Cowgill felt Portilla’s book was a “convincing and moving presentation” of how the indigenous population and their descendants had to say about their cultural downfall. Leon-Portilla made the reader think of how the natives felt and what they endured with his vivid
Anderson also shared his views of Miguel Leon-Portilla’s book The Broken Spears. According to Arthur J.O. Anderson even though Miguel Leon-Portilla’s book is mostly of the defeat, the chaos, and grief the Aztecs endured, it is also a story that wanted to remind Spain of their debt they owe to the Aztecs . In my opinion, I also felt that this story was written to make the Spanish aware of their dark history and chaos they brought to ancient Mesoamerica. The book is written in the Aztec perspective and it depicts the Spanish as greedy, careless men who tried to annihilate any trace of Mesoamerican culture and tried to enforce their own way of life. So I do agree with Anderson and feel that the Spanish do owe a huge debt to the natives of Mesoamerican. Anderson also discussed how many natives after the conquest of Mexico were taught by Spanish Francian friars to read and write Spanish and Latin as well as to put their native language into Latin. Unos annles de la nacion Mexicana written in 1528 put native accounts written in Nahuatl with Spanish translation from the Franciscan fathers into one source. The Broken Spears included writings which traced back to the first transliterations such as Unos annles de la nacion Mexicana or The Codex Florentino and many other accounts. Anderson deeply appreciated the energy, artistry and poetry that went in Miguel Leon-Portilla’s book. He felt that Leon-Portilla selected a decent background of the Aztec culture and used effective sources that told the descriptions of the natives very well. He felt that the reader would find Leon-Portilla’s work to be interesting, accurate, and useful to