The Sources and Authenticity of the History of the Ancient Mexicans

150 pages with 17 plates. Small quarto (10 ¼ " x 6 ¾ ") issued in wrappers. From the library of Professor Anibal Buitrón. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Volume 17, number 1. First edition. Paul Radin is a widely read American cultural anthropologist and folklorist of the early twentieth century. He became a student of Franz Boas at Columbia, where he counted Edward Sapir and Robert Lowie among his classmates. He engaged in years of productive fieldwork among the Winnebago Indians, primarily from 1908-1912, culminating in 1923 with the publication of his magnum opus, The Winnebago Tribe. In 1929, as a result of his fieldwork, he was able to publish a grammar of the nearly extinct language of the Wappo people of the San Francisco Bay area. Late in his career he edited several anthologies of folk tales from different continents. His most enduring publication to date is The Trickster (1956), which includes essays by the pioneering scholar of Greek mythology, Karl Kerenyi, and the prominent psychoanalyst C. G. Jung. Radin taught at a number of colleges and universities, never staying at any one more than a few years. At various times he held appointments at University of California, Berkeley; Mills College, Fisk University, Black Mountain College, Kenyon College, and the University of Chicago. He concluded his career at Brandeis, where he was chairman of the Department of Anthropology. The Sources and Authenticity of the History of the Ancient Mexicans is a foundational scholarly monograph written by the renowned American anthropologist Paul Radin and originally published in 1920. The work serves as a rigorous ethnohistorical critique, examining the structural reliability of the records used to reconstruct pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican civilization, cultures, and timelines. Radin approaches the history of the Aztecs and neighboring tribes with a critical eye, navigating the challenge of separating authentic pre-Columbian facts from post-conquest myths and European distortions. He categorizes and evaluates three primary categories of historical evidence: Accounts written by conquerors and missionaries (such as the extensive ethnographic work found in Bernardino de Sahagún's Florentine Codex). Early material and structural evidence cross-referenced with native narratives to test the validity of documented migration timelines, lineages, and military conquests. Rather than simply retaking old legends as fact, Radin looks at the transmission of history. He analyzes how narratives were recorded, translated, and sometimes intentionally reshaped under colonial rule. His text remains highly regarded in Latin American anthropology because it forces historians to look directly at the primary source evidence rather than relying on secondary colonial interpretations. Anibal Buitrón was born 22 January 1914 in Otavalo, Ecuador. Earned master's degree in anthropology at University of Chicago in 1950. Had a Gugenheim Fellowship in 1949. Co-author (with the anthropologist John Coller) of the well-known book The Awakening Valley (1949). During his career he worked with the Pan American Union (of the Organization of American States) and with UNESCO. In these positions he played important roles in the development of indigenista-oriented anthropology in Latin America. Retired to Watsonville, California. Died sometime before 2006 Condition: Anibal Buitrón's stamp on front wrapper, edge wear with chips, spine ends chipped, soiled, unread else a good to very good copy.…