John S. Carlyle Abbott

"Adam Mill", for his take on the Spanish Conquest, relies upon one source: a biography of "Cortez" by one John Stevens Cabot Abbott. This was published ... AD 1855.

I started out with no clue about who Abbott was, up to five hours ago, so I have looked him up. John Abbott shares a name with a later Tory politician in Canada, so we've been projecting his middle names back onto him in our day (not unlike Diego Velázquez ...). Looking over Abbott's bibliography, he put out a more-serious (but equally laudatory) bio of Napoleon Bonaparte at the same time as his Cortéz. Abbott was a contemporary of Thomas Carlyle; after Carlyle's death, Abbott went on to eulogise one of Carlyle's own heroes, Frederick the Great.

So that's "Mill"'s primary source. A fanboy of Carlylean heroes, putting out popular works for the edification of young men in positions of power. Abbott had little interest in the history, by contrast even with Prestcott in 1843.

I have, at the same time, actually finished Restall's When Montezuma Met Cortes - which, the reader will note, I'd started before "Mill" put out that article. "Mill" was of course unaware of this blog but, more to the point, unaware of Restall. I do not believe you should be commenting about the Conquistadors in Mesoamerica without reading that book, first. Restall is not the impartial historian we need, himself. Restall is however the best we got, at present.

Restall and I would admit that Cortés (slightly) deserves exoneration, in that until Otompan he wasn't in charge of the mess, despite his own letters and his son's biography of him. Still : that re-assessment, alone, disposes of Abbott (concerned with heroics which, we now know, weren't) - and it wounds "Mill".

All this leaves open some questions, for "Adam Mill" and for his publisher Ben Domenech. Any serious historian must already know that you don't just cite nineteenth-century secondary sources without even a nod to more-recent material. If not Restall then at least someone else; maybe, I don't know, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs by Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz. Maybe Richard F. Townsend's book on The Aztecs. UPDATE 9/20 : Camilla Townsend's got a post-Restall book out that looks intriguing.

My theory is that "Adam Mill" - like me, no expert in this field - had read Abbott, and maybe Jennings, and some ambient apologetics. From Abbott, he cobbled this article. And then he flung it over the fence. Hey, why not. That's how I work Ace's weekly Book Thread.

I would pin the blame on Domenech. That Domenech posted this one-trick pony, means Domenech figured it was Good Enough to make his overall point, which point would support those who subscribe to his website and newsletter, who just want a hug and to be reassured they're not living in stolen land like their smug professor told them they do. Domenech is renowned for being sloppy, for cutting corners, and for pandering to paymasters. I wonder if "Adam Mill" is Domenech.