Richard Townsend presents the first complete portrait of the Aztecs, with a thorough approach, incorporating economic and symbolic elements, in order to reconcile the seemingly contradictory aspects of their culture.

It begins with a dramatic narrative of the Spanish Conquest, then charts the rise of the Aztecs from humble nomads to architects of an Empire. It demonstrates how war and human sacrifices indeed operated terroristically, as well as how the deeper significance lay in the Aztecs' belief that the shedding of human blood ensured the fertility of the earth and the changing of the seasons.