Bonds of Blood Gender, Lifecycle, and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture [Hardcover]

The history of the Aztecs has been haunted by the spectre of human sacrifice. Reinvesting the Aztecs with a humanity frequently denied to them, and exploring their spectacular religious violence as a comprehensible element of life, this book integrates a fresh interpretation of gender with an innovative study of the everyday life of the Aztecs.List of Figures and Tables Note on Translation and Terminology Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Glossary Introduction Living with Death Birth and Blood Growing Up Tying the Knot Marriage and Partnership Outside the Norm Aging and Mortality Conclusion

Winner of the 2008 Royal Historical Society Gladstone Prize

The judges said of Dr Dodds Pennock's book:

'Few fields of study can present the historian with such a challenge as the world of the pre-conquest Aztecs ... [a] challenge that Caroline Dodds Pennock meets triumphantly. Her analysis of the rich but problematic evidence is unfailingly rigorous. Both theoretical and methodological sophistication, however, are worn lightly. What emerges is a vivid and convincing reconstruction of a society whose harsh view of life and death was tempered by the experience of warmth, and even joy, achieved through human relationships and the routines of everyday life.'

'An exceptional volume because of its humanising approach and attention to individual concerns,

emotions, and perspectives. This beautifully written book is recommended for a

wide readership, from undergraduate students to accomplished Mesoamerican scholars.'

- Lisa Overholtzer, Bulletin of Latin American Research

'Gender specialists and students of all levels will find worthwhile [Dodds Pennock's] search for the intimate as revealed by sources that downplay the personal and affective, rendered as itis in graceful, accessible prose. - Susan Kellogg, Hispanic American Historical Review