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    1519: A Journey to the End of Time
    Unavailable
    1519: A Journey to the End of Time
    Unavailable
    1519: A Journey to the End of Time
    Ebook460 pages7 hours

    1519: A Journey to the End of Time

    By John Harrison

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    When Hernán Cortés met the Mayans, Aztecs and other cultures of the gulf coast of Mexico in 1519, it was the first extended contact between the peoples of continental America and Europe. The Spanish found cities larger and better run than any in Europe, and pyramids greater than Egypt's. The Aztecs believed time was running down and they lived in the final age of the world. Many Spaniards believed Christ's millennium was approaching, and God's revelation of Americas had opened the final act: the conversion of the remote races of the earth. After the Day of Judgement God's experiment with man was over. The laboratory, the physical world, would be destroyed. Both cultures were acting out the last days.

    Halfway through researching this book John Harrison had a scan which told him he would not live to write it; he was seeing out his own days.

    The Aztec people were concerned with the transitory nature of worldly things; some of their rulers were revered as much for their philosophical poetry as their conquests. John Harrison follows Cortés's route along the Mexican coast and across country to modern Mexico City, home of the Aztecs. A journey within journeys to the end of time, the book becomes a meditation on time, on mortality and self, from a modern master of travel writing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherParthian Books
    Release dateAug 1, 2015
    ISBN9781910901137
    Unavailable
    1519: A Journey to the End of Time
    Author

    John Harrison

    John Harrison is Yorkshire born and bred. His work draws inspiration from his beloved county and is known for portraying built structures in the wider landscape, exploring the contrast between the manmade and the natural.

    Read more from John Harrison

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    Reviews for 1519

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    • 4/5
      I received a free copy of this book from the publisher to read and write an honest review.

      The year is 1519 and the cultures of Central and South America are at their peak. Their cities are magnificent, larger than European ones and they have ritual monuments larger than the Egyptians. But the Aztec thought that their time was running out and that they were living in their final days. Their leaders were admired as much for their outlook as their conquests.

      Into this came the Spanish. Led by Hernán Cortés, they believed that the final days were happening, and that they had an urgent mission to convert the remaining peoples of the earth before judgement day. This aggressive desire to change the practices of the native people of these lands would lead to battles and bloodshed and shocking displays of brutality on both sides. The Mayans and the Aztec fought back as best they could, but the Spanish had the upper hand, horses with mounted soldiers and steel blades.

      It is into this ancient landscape that Harrison steps. Starting with the points where Cortés landed, and being ferried around in boasts, he follows the route that along the coast that the Spanish took, before heading inland. Travelling on buses and taxis between the towns and cities, he meets the locals and visits the places that saw the main events and battles happen. It is still a country rich with culture and history and the scale of the architecture still left can take your breath away. But this was a journey that nearly never happened, because part of the way through the research for this trip, John was diagnosed with throat cancer and a prediction that he would not live to make the journey.

      As with all of Harrison’s books, it is solidly researched and well written. His relaxed manner whilst travelling and the way that he engages with the people and the places that he goes to makes you feel that you are sitting alongside him looking through the grubby coach window. It is amazing that he actually made this expedition at all, not only was his cancer quite aggressive, but when he travelled he was in remission and recovering. Woven through the historical accounts and the travel is diary of his treatment and feelings as he faces the bleakest of futures. Very poignant.

      It was a little heavy on the history, but that was a minor flaw in what is another marvellous book from Harrison.