- Buildings That Shaped Britain
- Kids Behind Bars
- New Servants
- The RIBA Stirling Prize
- The Unteachables
- The Last Aztec
- Hospital Heroes
The Last Aztec
In The Last Aztec, the Booker Prize-winning author DBC Pierre takes us back to the Mexico of his youth to explore the downfall of one of the greatest civilisations ever – the Aztecs. Pierre is of English and Australian descent but grew up in Mexico City. As a young man, he discovered a book in the Thieves Market that purported to reveal the resting place of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma and his treasure; and so began Pierre’s lifelong obsession with the Aztecs.
When the Spaniards, led by the cunning Hernan Cortes, arrived in Mexico in 1519 they fought their way towards the Aztec capital – larger and more spectacular than any city in Europe at that time. There they kidnapped the indecisive Moctezuma and, believing his captors to be Gods, he became a puppet of the Spaniards. In 1521, during an uprising, Moctzeuma was killed by a volley of stones thrown by his own subjects – his body and his vast gold-laden treasure soon disappeared.
Pierre spent the next decade researching Aztec history, meeting a rogues gallery of Mexican explorers, hustlers and Aztec descendents, and finally tracking down the valley in the Sierras where the sorcerers still protect a cave system which Pierre believes could be the key to the riddle of what happened to Moctezuma’s legacy.
Pierre sets out to discover what happened to Moctezuma and his treasure. The search leads him to a native village of witches high in the Sierras where he meets the people who are arguably direct descendants of Moctezuma’s court. He consults with their sorcerers, participates in their rituals and tries to determine what it is they are guarding in a hidden cave – could it be the gold of Montezuma?