The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction by David Carrasco is a succinct but comprehensive history of the, in many ways infamous, ancient Latin American civilization known as the Aztecs. His book goes through an overview of the foundation and creation of the Aztec culture and way of life, their expansion, their taboo rituals of sacrifice and reputation as a violent and warlike group, and eventually the fall of the civilization as a whole. The book as a whole speaks volumes in its simplicity; it gives readers an excellent sense of what this strange and once very powerful culture once was in, as the title suggests, a very short amount of pages.
The book begins with the description of the massive and intimidating wonder that was the city of Tenochtitlan.…