After invading highland Guatemala in 1524, Spaniards claimed to have smashed the Kaqchikel and Kiche Maya kingdoms and to have forged a new colonywith their leader, Pedro de Alvarado, as Guatemalas conquistador. This volume shows that the real story of the Spanish invasion was very different. Designed to be both an accessible introduction to the topic as well as a significant contribution to conquest scholarship, the volume presents for the first time English translations of firsthand accounts by Spaniards, Nahuas, and Mayas. Alvarados letters to Corts, published here in English for the first time in almost a century, are supplemented with accounts by one of his cousins, by his brother Jorge, and by Bernal Daz and Bartolom de Las Casas. Nahua perspectives are presented in the form of pictorial evidence, along with written testimony by Tlaxcalan and Aztec veterans who fought as invading allies of the Spaniards