Choice 评论
Anthropologist Hassig's work makes a contribution to the growing literature on the impact of European conquest in Latin America. The author focuses on urbanization in the Valley of Mexico before and after the Spanish conquest, looking at environmental, demographic, and political factors affecting the urban organization of the valley. Emphasis is on the importance of transportation systems in determining urban growth and decline. Based heavily on published documents and archaeological reports, this work is most useful for its application of various social science theories and models to 16th-century urban history. Descriptive material on such things as transport systems, agriculture, and the Aztec calendar is interesting but available elsewhere. The use of social science notation and bibliographic form will be a drawback for some readers. The work is too technical for the undergraduate reader, but should be of interest to historians as well as social scientists working in the field of urbanization.-V.H. Cummins, Austin College