Spirit of a nation

Its wide scope can help a young reader connect Mexico’s ancient civilisations, later historical change and contemporary society within one survey.

The historical account includes Spanish conquest and three centuries of rule, alongside chapters naming Indigenous Mexicans and other population groups; these topics may invite care with historical context and terminology.

If you read the sections on conquest and later population groups together, what changes and continuities do you notice in how the book presents Mexico’s people?

Read it in sections, pausing at each named civilisation or population group to distinguish what the book says about history from what it says about life in Mexico today.