THE BERNAL DIAZ CHRONICLES

To interests in New World history desiring the freshness of the original work on Cortez in Mexico- the lively and extensive diary from which may future commentators gained valuable information- this first shortened English version may provide the answer. Bernal Diaz del Castillo went with Cortez as a young soldier. His famous diary, written down when he was eighty and which today still makes direct and provocative reading, has so far been available only in the longer Maudsley translation. Idell's text makes a strong bid as a workable version-which has not lost the flavor of the original.