When Jonathan Culler says that “meaning is context bound, but context is boundless” (Literary Theory [1997], 67), he is referring to the meaning of texts. And yet, we can apply this observation more widely to include the meaning of events, such as the fall of Tenochtitlan five hundred years ago, and the historical evidence that we use to make sense of those events. When we reinterpret, for example, the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, Cortés's Segunda relación, or a sculpture of the Earth goddess Tlaltecuhtli from Tenochtitlan's Great Temple, much of what we are doing is considering its place within a new context. And, although no context is out of bounds, so to speak, the more novel a context is, the more justification it requires for helping us answer the questions we are asking, and for demonstrating the importance of those questions in the first place.

In his timely book, David Carballo succeeds in justifying a new approach to the Spanish-Mexica War of 1519–21 and the creation of New Spain, which he views within a context that extends to prehistoric Mesoamerica and Iberia. He shows how studying long-term trajectories from each side of the Atlantic changes the way we look at the “collision of worlds” referred to in the title. But the value of the book extends beyond its usefulness for explaining events of the sixteenth century. Carballo's comparison of Mesoamerican and Iberian societies illuminates parallels and contrasts that will interest readers who focus on these societies before their contact. That contact, in turn, influences how we interpret the development that came before, and so another contribution of the book is that it shows, implicitly, how we view precontact histories through the lens of conquest.

Carballo introduces the central themes and methodology of his work effectively in the first chapter by examining the layered histories of Medellín, Spain—the birthplace of Cortés—and Cholula, Mexico—a key pilgrimage site where Cortés led a notorious massacre. The deadly connection between the two cities draws the reader into the analysis of factors that brought them together. By chapter 6, when Carballo focuses on the events in Cholula in October 1520, he has built a useful framework in which to understand them, especially on the Mesoamerican side. We can appreciate better, for example, the political dynamics within the city-state, as well as its relationship to Cortés's allies from Tlaxcala. In building this framework, Carballo combines archaeology with other disciplines, including some that rely more heavily on textual analysis, though readers of this journal may doubt his enthusiasm for early modern historiography when he calls Bernal Díaz del Castillo's history “one of the few books written in the sixteenth century that remains readable today” (141).

Of this book's eight chapters, two are devoted to the early history of Mesoamerica and Iberia, and then another chapter to both societies on the eve of the encounter. These three chapters are longer than the following three, which explore the invasion and Spanish-Mexica War; the prominence of the longer three chapters is meant to decenter any one piece of the story and show instead how various pieces fit together within a large historical process. The final chapter, “Forging a New Spain,” contributes to this decentering by picking up themes explored earlier while moving beyond the early military stage.

The introductory chapter and a midpoint discussion convey the book's contributions most succinctly, but, unfortunately, the study lacks a conclusion. In the end, Carballo could have connected some of his insights more explicitly, such as his comparison of Iberian and Mesoamerican caste and class systems, the absolutist and incorporative orientations to religion, and different forms of ritual violence. One connecting thread throughout the book is the active role that Mesoamericans played in defeating the Triple Alliance of Mexico's central valley and in creating a colonial society. Although scholars have been emphasizing that role for decades, Carballo brings it into sharper focus by analyzing various aspects of it, from the regional politics that set Tlaxcala apart from its neighbors to the syncretism that influenced religious architecture and iconography.

This well-written and thought-provoking study will be of interest to a wide range of scholars, especially scholars of early modern Latin America and Spain.