
audiobook
by Lew Wallace
A rare, first‑hand chronicle brings listeners to the early sixteenth‑century valleys of Mexico, where a learned Tezcucan noble watches the tide of conquest roll in. Fernando de Alva, fluent in both native hieroglyphics and Spanish, records the daily life, rituals, and the looming threat of foreign horsemen crossing the bridges that link his world to the unknown.
Presented through the careful hand of a modern translator, the narrative blends scholarly detail with vivid, personal observation. Readers hear the clang of sandal‑clad feet, the roar of Spanish cavalry, and the quiet desperation of a people striving to preserve their heritage amid bewildering change. The voice is intimate, yet grounded in the larger currents of history.
In its opening act, the story captures the clash of cultures, the awe of new technologies, and the stubborn resilience of a civilization on the brink. Listeners are invited to experience a pivotal moment from an angle rarely heard, where the fate of a nation is narrated with both passion and precision.
Language
en
Duration
~17 hours (992K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by KD Weeks, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2013-07-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1827–1905
Best known for writing Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, he led a life that was every bit as dramatic as his fiction—soldier, lawyer, governor, diplomat, and bestselling novelist all in one.
View all books