MacLachlan’s Imperialism and the Origins of Mexican Culture is an inviting interpretive history that compares the history of pre-Columbian Mexico with that of pre-unification of Spain to demonstrate the “historical similarities” that helped generate post-conquest Mestizo culture. For MacLachlan, his intermittent statelessness as a youth during the Second World War spawned a need to “ponder the evolution of empires” and the acculturation processes that made them possible, a lifelong interest considering his similarly themed The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico (4). MacLachlan’s works place emphasis on historical experience and context and the negotiation that takes place within acculturation.

To MacLachlan Mestizo Mexico is the “story of two imperialisms”; the Aztec conquest of much of Mesoamerica and the conquest of the Aztec’s by the Spanish (5). His provocative approach is an effort to challenge traditional history by illustrating that both cultures were “on the same road to modernity” and due to this had many “historical similarities” which greatly affected the dialogue of conquest (32). His macro interpretation admittingly assumes that “organized human existence appears to follow a similar path”, and he does, at times, paint with broad strokes (34). Nonetheless, MacLachlan’s interpretation is not inherently ground-breaking and in many ways unexpectedly traditional. In the work’s four chapters readers still encounter the rapid and painful disintegration of Indo-Mexico’s economy, culture, and society. It’s inferred that pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture, politics, and economics is inferior and the composite culture which survives is an exchange dominated by Spain. Mesoamerican culture is still fundamentally altered, most often surviving detached from its “philosophical foundations” (32). However, as both cultures are examined over the longue durée the cultural amalgamation becomes more complete.

MacLachlan first details pre-conquest Mesoamerican civilisation focusing on the creation of the Aztec empire and it’s religious, social, and political structure, and military, economic, and commercial activities. The account is irreplaceable as it details an Aztec Empire that is similar to many in Europe at the time. The Aztec’s are an imperialistic and violent society, whose priesthood is an important social force, and whose rulers face court intrigues and rule with the acceptance of secondary governing officials. Central to the work is MacLachlan’s conclusion that, the Aztec Empire was an “imperial model exhausted” on the verge of a commercial revolution but in which political control and the rigid distribution of status restricted trade and achievement (106). The Aztec’s were a carelessly built and far-flung tribute empire no longer capable of effectively expanding and too centralized to protect against rival states. MacLachlan adds that the empire was structured on a worldview—“negative set of beliefs”—incapable of placing current events into useful context and fed by numerous omens foreshadowing a foreboding future (108). An Aztec Empire destined to fall even if the Spanish had not arrived.

MacLachlan goes on to overview the formation of Spanish culture from Roman times to 753. Much is lost in this chapter in the comparative history due to its brevity and MacLachlan’s heavy-handed exposition of Roman imperialism. Rome’s “positive gifts of civilisation” concealed its “predatory behaviour” and Roman imperialism differed from Aztec imperialism only in its superior political organization (113-114). The sweeping interpretation seems a bit over-conceptualized yet congeals nicely with MacLachlan’s interpretation of Mesoamerican civilisation. Little is left fallow as MacLachlan explains the harmony of cultural transfer within urban areas when compared to rural areas, the Roman system of clientage and labour, the introduction of Christianity, and the influence of European pandemics.

In the third chapter MacLachlan examines the Muslim conquest and Christian Reconquest of Spain. The chapter recaps accepted contemporary historiography the Reconquista’s influence on the Spanish conquistadors who conquered the New World. A pivotal concept developed within the chapter is the social and political impact of a “moving frontier” that “blurred ... the social structure to the advantage of those who were at the bottom” (166). The theory easily transfers to Indo-Mexico and is helpful in explaining how the social and political confusion brought about by conquest empowered pragmatic individuals across class lines.

In chapter four MacLachlan ties it all together by explaining the philosophical challenge that America posed to the European imagination. How Spain relied on its historical experiences and institutions in its integration of the Americas into the global community. MacLachlan begins by briefly illustrating the conquest of the Caribbean to show the connection between legitimacy and force; how empires rationalize attacking and acculturating others. MacLachlan infers that the conquest of Mexico “may have been one of the last medieval campaigns” and that a Medieval mentality, which the Spanish Monarchy actively attempted to weed out, formed much of the “replacement worldview” and brought a period of fluidity which allowed pragmatic Spaniards and Indo-Mexicans a place in conquest era Mexico (229). MacLachlan illustrates the rapid transformation of the Mesoamerica’s political and economic structure and the spread of a Christianity too under-manned and culturally distant to result in more than “misty belief systems” which often allowed individuals to choose what they preferred (221). Readers easily recognize the role the European past played in altering indigenous Mexico, however, the importance of the similarities between Spanish and Mexican cultures is less convincing.

In all, MacLachlan’s history is an important addition to contemporary New World historiography that generally views indigenous peoples as participants as opposed to victims. His work illustrates New Spain maturating under a dominant yet rational “Old World” mentality that allowed for flexibility, accommodation, and negotiation among participants (255). Spain was not inevitably trying to destroy Indo-Mexico but incorporate it. We see this when MacLachlan demonstrates how the Indo-Mexican frontier was socially levelling and how the sudden economic reorganization, initially so devastating, was ultimately “a very positive reaction to imperialism” (258). MacLachlan’s though provoking interpretation concludes that the beginnings of Mestizo culture where inherently practical and pragmatic.