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How long does it take to read Conquest?

Hugh Thomas

Conquest by Hugh Thomas takes about 15 hours 33 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 15 hours 33 minutes

A long haul

First published 1993. 848 pages, about 233,200 words.

32 days (about 5 weeks) at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 25 hours 55 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 15 hours 33 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 9 hours 43 minutes

The page count is the median across 20 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

In Conquest one of the most distinguished modern historians has written the first major history of the conquest of Mexico since Prescott's classic account, published over 150 years ago. Cortes' conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521 is one of the most famous stories in the world. Macaulay wrote that the way Aztec emperor Montezuma died was one of the two things that every schoolboy knew. The story of the 500 conquistadores landing near Vera Cruz, the subsequent burning of the boats, the march up to the Aztec capital, the extraordinary battles and ruses en route, the welcome by Montezuma, the later quarrels, the Spanish withdrawal, the bloody fighting, and the eventual apocalyptic victory can never fail to excite the imagination. Drawing on newly discovered sources and taking into account information not available to earlier scholars, Hugh Thomas, author of the bestselling The Spanish Civil War and The History of the Cuban Revolution, presents a full and balanced history of one of the most significant events of Western civilization, a subject and an era of continued fascination to millions of readers. Here, in a brilliant and detailed narrative, full of the sound and fury of great events and the clash of empires and personalities, is a book that rivals Prescott's for its sweeping view of history, but is written with a new respect for the civilization and culture that Cortes ruthlessly destroyed. Hugh Thomas' account of the collapse of Montezuma's great Mexican empire under the onslaughts of Cortes' conquistadores is one of the major historical works of the decade. It bristles with moral and political issues that are profoundly relevant to our time, and is also a thrilling narrative, brimful of the sheer excitement of discovery.

Subjects: History, Eroberung, Historia

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