This concise, brilliant interpretation of the monumental art of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan provides an excellent introduction to the relation of political state and religious cosmos in Mesoamerican traditions. Focusing his art-historical methods on the formation of Tenochtitlan's monumental ensemble, Townsend expertly reveals the intimate connection between historical consciousness and commemoration and cosmological structure and dynamics in Aztec architecture and ritual.
   --Religious Studies Review