I had to read this for a seminar on multiculturalism. It advances a very provocative theory about the Spanish colonials' contact with natives after the discovery of America, and the destruction of their native cultures. ( )

A truly wonderful book. A semiotician's view on the historical developments of a clash of two cultures. Some of the historical claims Todorov made were absolutely astounding, like the total victim numbers, which in his estimate is far greater than most believe. Also his use of the arguments by Bartolome de las Casas where the Christian monk who had lived with the natives convincingly justifies their sacrificial practices. This part especially I thought relevant for modern inter-cultural, inter-religious understanding. ( )

It is always difficult to know how to judge books that were published several decades ago. There is a lot wrong with this book, but it was revolutionary enough when it was published to have influenced the field ever since. So first the positive moves:

Todorov was one of the first people to portray Christopher Columbus as anything other than a genius and a hero. In The Conquest of America he comes off as a religious fanatic trying to raise money for a Crusade no one is interested, and as dead set on imposing his vision of reality on the world despite all empirical evidence (as for instance, when he lands on yet another island and insists that he has found the mainland even though the inhabitants keep saying it is an island. He makes his whole crew swear an oath that it is the mainland and that anyone who says otherwise will have their tongue cut off.) Todorov is also one of the first people to move beyond the idea that because Cortez had guns and horses he had to win, even though he was vastly outnumbered.

And the negatives:

In order to determine why Cortez won even though he was so badly outnumbered, Todorov turns to semiotics--the study of signs and symbols. He is especially interested in language. Basically, his argument is that because the Aztecs do not have a phonetic alphabet they are unable to improvise. Aztec communication is ritualized and directed at the world, Spanish communication is improvisational and directed at man. Thus Cortez is able to understand the Aztecs better than they are able to understand him enabling him to use their rituals and symbols against the Aztecs and ultimately triumph. The problem with this is that it is the same old Europeans are more rational/smarter/advanced than the Aztecs therefore they won argument wrapped up in new paper. It takes the Conquistadors post facto descriptions of the invasion at face value. ( )