Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire

Davíd Carrasco is director of the Moses Mesoamerican Archive, professor of history of religions at Harvard University, and editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. His works include Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage, Moctezuma's Mexico, Waiting for the Dawn, Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes (University Press of Colorado), and City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization (Beacon).

• ; Contents; List of Illustrations; Preface to the Revised Edition; Preface to the First Edition; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Mosaics and Centers; 1; The Sources: From Storybook to Encylopedia; 2; Quetzalcoatl and the Foundation of Tollan; 3; Other Tollans; 4; The Return of Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire; 5; When Strangers Come to Town: The Return of Queztalcoatl and Millennial Discourse; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index;

"This book, rich in ideas, constituting a novel approach...represents a stimulating and provocative contribution to Mesoamerican studies...Recommended to all serious students of the New World's most advanced indigenous civilization."—Man