Montezumas Fire

With the Democratic Primary three weeks away, Sheriff Cliff Lansing is facing a serious contender. Councilman John Tapia is well-financed but lags in the polls. He digs into his bag of dirty tricks. Enlisting the aid of his cousin and an unsuspecting State Bureau of Investigation, Tapia becomes a threat to Lansing’s job and his very freedom. Tina Morales returns from a two-month visit to Nogales, Mexico. She brings with her a beautiful porcelain doll . . . a doll her grandmother, Naomi, fears. The teacher doesn’t realize she will unleash an ancient terror, threatening San Phillipe County and Santa Clara Pueblo. Lincoln Baca gets devastating news that will end his firefighting career. Angry and depressed, his uncle advises him to seek guidance from the ancestral Kachinas. Lincoln goes into the wilderness on a vision quest. He discovers an ancient legend that may rescue him as well as save his Pueblo. Jeremiah Black, a Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma, establishes his Native American Reform Church north of Segovia. Using the hallucinatory peyote cactus as a sacrament, his church gets unwanted attention from members of the Lowrider community. A dangerous situation arises, and the minister has to make a tough choice. Problems mount . . . the election, a wife who shoots her husband claiming self-defense, young women killed in hit-and-run accidents possibly by a serial killer, and Tina’s doll. When Tina asks Lansing if he’s having a bad day, he can only respond, “No, not bad . . . just typical.”

In this astonishing work of scholarship that reads like an edge-of-your-seat adventure thriller, acclaimed historian Buddy Levy records the last days of the Aztec empire and the two men at the center of an epic clash of cultures perhaps unequaled to this day. It was a moment unique in human history, the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in carrying out his intentions by virtually annihilating a proud and accomplished native people is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story. In Tenochtitlán Cortés met his Aztec counterpart, Montezuma: king, divinity, commander of the most powerful military machine in the Americas and ruler of a city whose splendor equaled anything in Europe. Yet in less than two years, Cortés defeated the entire Aztec nation in one of the most astounding battles ever waged. The story of a lost kingdom, a relentless conqueror, and a doomed warrior, Conquistador is history at its most riveting.

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.

Dr. Antonio Grimaldi holds a doctorate degree and 2 post-doctoral specializations from the State University of Naples, Italy. For eight years, Dr. Grimaldi resided in Latin America where he served for four years as Professor of Economics at the National University of Panama. Residing in the United States since 1978, he served with several universities and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in management and economics. Dr. Grimaldi has published numerous articles and research papers in academic journals and conference proceedings. Professor Grimaldi speaks five languages. While pursuing his interest in Pre-Columbian civilizations, Dr. Grimaldi traveled extensively throughout Latin America, exploring the Andean Plateau, the Orinoco River, the Amazon Basin and Central America, having personal contact with several native tribes. Articles regarding Dr. Grimaldis travels have been published in Latin America and Canada.

The major character in the story is Troy O’Neill, an Arizona boy reared by a religious mother of Dutch heritage and an adventurous Irish father. The boy treks northward into the wilds of the mountains and canyons of Utah in search of an ancient Aztec treasure. Amid harrowing experiences and life-and-death struggles, the impossible dream comes true.

DIVThe Justice Department hires Sidel’s new chauffer to spy on the New York Police Department’s commissioner/divDIV/divDIVJoey Barbarossa likes being a cop, because it makes dealing drugs easier. Any time a fellow pusher gives him trouble, Joey’s detective badge and police-issue Glock have a way of making the problem disappear. He’s also protected by his mentor, NYPD Commissioner Isaac Sidel, but there’s nothing even Sidel can do when Barbarossa makes the mistake of rubbing out a dealer with ties to the Justice Department. For compensation, Justice demands Barbarossa start spying on Sidel, who’s just made him his personal chauffer. The drug-dealing detective can’t say no./divDIV /divDIVSidel is preparing for a run at the mayor’s office, but before his campaign kicks off he has to deal with two mob bosses who want him dead. He and Barbarossa don ski masks and start holding up mafia establishments, but as the pressure rises and the friendship frays, the only question is which cop will turn on the other first./div

There is no greater range of history in New Mexico than that found within 15 miles surrounding the village of Pecos. This book explores the last 1,000 years of that history, which includes many cultures and events, such as Native Americans, Spanish explorers, a Civil War battle, the Santa Fe Trail, railroads, and Route 66, as well as miners, saloon keepers, archaeologists, tourists, important architects, and even Hollywood stars.