New Book Examines Conquistador’s Legacy from Tejano-American Perspective
Eugene, OR, April 10, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Outskirts author Arturo Cortez sheds light on the conquistador Hernán Cortes and examines his legacy from the perspective of a Tejano American in “Semblance Lost: The Life and Times of Don, Hernan Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca.”
In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed on the Yucatan Peninsula with fewer than 600 men. Less than two years later, he had defeated perhaps the most powerful military the world had ever seen – that of the Aztecs.
How it happened – and the conquest’s lasting effects on North America’s cultural milieu – is the focus of “Semblance Lost: The Life and Times of Don, Hernan Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca,” the new book from Outskirts Press author Arturo Cortez.
Now available through the author’s Web site, at www.outskirtspress.com/semblancelost, the book is the first in a planned series that’s intended to shed new light on Tejano-American history. In this heavily researched study, “Semblance Lost” details how various forces, interests and personalities came together to affect the improbable success of the Holy Roman Empire conquistadores. Perhaps the biggest coup was how Cortes was able to fashion co-existence among the Old World colonizers and the New World indigenous native population. In so doing, the empire and the Roman Catholic Church established a religious and social caste system that has influenced culture to the present day.
The book also introduces readers to a rarely seen side of Cortes and other major historical players of his time, free from the bias of traditional academic constructs.
“Hernán Cortes, like Moctezuma and Malintzin, are real historical personalities who historians have deliberately misrepresented throughout the centuries,” states Cortez. “It was all part of establishing racial dominance over the people of the New World and a means of European nation-building in our world.”
But “Semblance Lost” is more than a history lesson; the book examines how these centuries-ago events laid the foundation for today’s socio-ethnic landscape. Written by a Tejano American for a Tejano American audience, “Semblance Lost” seeks to put the current experience of Texas-born Hispanics in context, and to find their place in a complex, diverse, globalized and democratic society.
“Semblance Lost: The Life and Times of Don, Hernan Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca” is now available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the online bookstore of Outskirts Press, at outskirtspress.com/store.php.
About the Author: Arturo Vargas Cortez is a farm worker originally from Harlingen, Texas, a small Rio Grande Valley town in a region known to many as “El Valle de Tejas.” He moved to Oregon in 1966, where he received a bachelor’s degree from the legendary Colegio Cesar Chavez, the country’s first independent accredited Chicano college. “Semblance Lost” is the first in a planned series that Cortez hopes will help educate a new generation of Tejano Americans about their past.
ISBN: 978-1-4327-0864-1 Format: 5 x 8 paperback Pages: 104
SRP: US$11.95 Genre: Regional, Ethnic, Genre, Specific Subject
Author Contact: Visit him on the Web at www.outskirtspress.com/semblancelost
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Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com — 1-888-OP-BOOKS
In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed on the Yucatan Peninsula with fewer than 600 men. Less than two years later, he had defeated perhaps the most powerful military the world had ever seen – that of the Aztecs.
How it happened – and the conquest’s lasting effects on North America’s cultural milieu – is the focus of “Semblance Lost: The Life and Times of Don, Hernan Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca,” the new book from Outskirts Press author Arturo Cortez.
Now available through the author’s Web site, at www.outskirtspress.com/semblancelost, the book is the first in a planned series that’s intended to shed new light on Tejano-American history. In this heavily researched study, “Semblance Lost” details how various forces, interests and personalities came together to affect the improbable success of the Holy Roman Empire conquistadores. Perhaps the biggest coup was how Cortes was able to fashion co-existence among the Old World colonizers and the New World indigenous native population. In so doing, the empire and the Roman Catholic Church established a religious and social caste system that has influenced culture to the present day.
The book also introduces readers to a rarely seen side of Cortes and other major historical players of his time, free from the bias of traditional academic constructs.
“Hernán Cortes, like Moctezuma and Malintzin, are real historical personalities who historians have deliberately misrepresented throughout the centuries,” states Cortez. “It was all part of establishing racial dominance over the people of the New World and a means of European nation-building in our world.”
But “Semblance Lost” is more than a history lesson; the book examines how these centuries-ago events laid the foundation for today’s socio-ethnic landscape. Written by a Tejano American for a Tejano American audience, “Semblance Lost” seeks to put the current experience of Texas-born Hispanics in context, and to find their place in a complex, diverse, globalized and democratic society.
“Semblance Lost: The Life and Times of Don, Hernan Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca” is now available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the online bookstore of Outskirts Press, at outskirtspress.com/store.php.
About the Author: Arturo Vargas Cortez is a farm worker originally from Harlingen, Texas, a small Rio Grande Valley town in a region known to many as “El Valle de Tejas.” He moved to Oregon in 1966, where he received a bachelor’s degree from the legendary Colegio Cesar Chavez, the country’s first independent accredited Chicano college. “Semblance Lost” is the first in a planned series that Cortez hopes will help educate a new generation of Tejano Americans about their past.
ISBN: 978-1-4327-0864-1 Format: 5 x 8 paperback Pages: 104
SRP: US$11.95 Genre: Regional, Ethnic, Genre, Specific Subject
Author Contact: Visit him on the Web at www.outskirtspress.com/semblancelost
###
Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com — 1-888-OP-BOOKS
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Outskirts Press, Inc.
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888-672-6657
www.outskirtspress.com
Jeanine Sampson
888-672-6657
www.outskirtspress.com
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