The Golden Empire: Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America

One of history's greatest upheavals plays out as melodrama and picaresque in this rousing saga of the founding of Spain's Latin American empire. Picking up after Cort%C3%A9s's capture of Tenochtitl%C3%A1n in 1522, National Book Award%E2%80%93winning historian Thomas (An Unfinished History of the World) follows the tiny bands of conquistadores as they fan out across two stunned continents, recounting the subjugations of Guatemala and the Yucatan, Pizarro's conquest of the Incan Empire, Orellano's harrowing voyage down the Amazon, and Coronado's vain quests for riches in the heart of North America. His panorama of the conquest depicts a vast criminal improvisation%E2%80%94the Spaniards' favorite tactic was to take Indian potentates hostage and demand a ransom in gold%E2%80%94whose bloody course was further roiled by murderous intrigues and civil wars among its leaders as they quarreled over territory and loot. Focused on the personalities, exploits, and vendettas of individual conquistadores, Thomas's account is almost as chaotic as their adventures; his occasional spotlighting of the distant, preoccupied figure of Spain's King Charles doesn't supply the unifying perspective he wants it to. Still, this story of the desperadoes who stole a hemisphere makes for gripping, old-fashioned narrative history, grand in scope and colorful in detail. Photo inserts; 28 maps. (Aug.)