Unfortunately, at the moment I have yet to read the book, so much of what follows will be couched in my understanding of the subject gathered from other sources.
The Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica is as we have gathered from our readings this semester is largely a myth, or at least a misrepresented period of history. A handful of men with advanced technology and superior tactics did not singlehandedly turn the New World into a possession of the crown. As the book we are preparing to read covers the Yucatan I'm going to step out on a limb and say that it speaks to that truth in the conquest of the Maya.
Conquistadors spent decades and fortunes attempting to conquer the Yucatan peninsula. As one of our earlier authors, Mr. Restall, pointed out, it is one of those areas that appears as a Spanish possession on paper but in fact was not fully conquered ever. Though many tried, and had some marginal success, it often proved to be ruinous to mount an expedition into the Yucatan.
It is small wonder then that we are to read a book entitled Ambivalent Conquest. The Yucatan was by definition a place of constant fluctuation, where native chieftans formed alliances against one another and made deals with the Spanish. The word ambivalent implies a state of conflicting feelings or constant fluctuation, and any conquistador setting out into the Yucatan must have felt ambivalent at best about his chances of coming back.
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