The Aztecs have long inspired both admiration and repulsion: admiration for their artistic and scientific achievements that include an accurate calendar, advanced agriculture, and sophisticated medicine; repulsion for their brutal rituals of human sacrifice and cannibalism. Exploring the history, politics, religion, economy, and daily life of this warrior culture, this book, with its splendid color photographs, offers a revealing portrait of a powerful society that comprised millions of people and controlled vast areas of Mexico before its spectacular destruction in the 16th century by Spanish invaders.