Rhetorical conquests

"This study examines how Hernan Cortes, first as the author of his Cartas de relacion (1519-1526), and then as the protagonist of Francisco Lopez de Gomara's Historia de la conquista de Mexico (1552), defends Spain's conquest of Mexico. It analyzes how these accounts represent his speech acts, including some of his key speeches: how they allow him to decline the conquest in different ways to different audiences and how they represent him as controlling the speech acts of others, most notably those of Moctezuma."--BOOK JACKET.