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What makes us ANGRY about ‘The Angry Aztecs’!

The Angry Aztecs - boo!

‘The Angry Aztecs’ (1997) - 16th in the ‘Horrible Histories’ series of history books for kids by Terry Deary - may be good for a laugh, but it’s very much at the Aztecs’ expense. You’ve probably already read this little book; we think the idea (‘history with the nasty bits left in’) is great, but we waste LOADS of time putting right its errors. Here are just a few... (Page numbers are from the original 1997 paperback edition). (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

• The world will end on December 22nd. 2012 (p8). It won’t! It’s just the end of an important calendar cycle.
• The Maya lived in South America (p8). They didn’t, they lived in what is today Mexico and Central America.
• The ancient Mexicans didn’t have wheels (p8). Oh no? What are these then (Pic 1)?

• The Aztecs were ‘cruel to kids’ (p72), they sacrificed ‘dozens’ of (captured slave) children every year, ‘the sacrifice table’ was an Aztec punishment for children (p73): in fact ‘it makes you wonder how there’s any children left the rate these Aztec sacrifice them!’ (p67). Even the Spanish were impressed by how loving Aztec parents were, the only children they sacrificed were those unlucky enough to be born on one of the 5 ‘useless’ days each year, and sacrifice was NOT a punishment for children.

• The Aztecs had a calendar of 365 days and no leap years (p62). They knew all about leap years and their calendar was far more accurate than the European one at the time.
• Children’s names were linked to ‘20 days and 18 months’, but ‘the months could have embarrassing names’ (p74). Deary’s knickers are in a twist: names were based on the ritual calendar of 13 cycles of 20 days - and what’s so ‘embarrassing’ about DOG, JAGUAR, FLOWER, RAIN, FLINT, EAGLE, HOUSE...?

• Street sweepers were usually captives (p62). They weren’t: the city’s local authorities employed 1,000 male citizens of Tenochtitlan to sweep and wash the streets every day.
• ‘Lake scum’ was eaten by ‘the Aztecs of Teotihuacan’, and the lake ‘became polluted with chemicals used to make whitewash’ (p57). For a start, he should have said Tenochtitlan; more importantly, the Mexica kept Lake Texcoco clean and highly organic, recycling poo as fertilizer and never polluting it. The only time they wastefully threw things into the lake was for their New Fire Ceremony - once every 52 years!!! (Pic 4).

• Women were ‘not very well treated in the Aztec world’ (p93). Funny, because the ONLY good thing Deary admits about the Aztecs (p75) is that they were the only ones in the world at the time to send all boys AND GIRLS to school! Yes, it was a man’s world, but Mexica women could keep their own property, do business, and go in for certain really high-prestige jobs, like priestess, healer, midwife...

• It’s ‘probably not true’ that the Spaniards murdered Moctezuma (p111), because ‘people who wrote that weren’t there at the time’. Funny, ‘cos others who WERE there at the time said they did...
• The Voladores (Flyers) Ceremony was meaningless: ‘Result, nothing, just a sort of Aztec team-bungee-jump’ (p92). This very special ceremony was linked to the sacred calendar and to the descent to earth of warrior spirits returning as birds and butterflies.

In the ritual ballgame, they used flat stones ‘to show the score’ (p88) No they didn’t!; teams were of ‘about 10 a side’ No they weren’t - MAXIMUM 7 players per side!; skullracks held the heads of victims ‘watching the game’ (p88) No spectators were sacrificed!; players ‘pass the ball among themselves till they are in a position to score’ (p89) No, the whole idea was to bounce the ball off your OPPONENTS in order to score; players were often killed during a game - ‘there were no rules to stop you killing an opponent’ (p89) Yes there were, very clear rules for the game, and any sacrifices would have taken place AFTER the match.

• Aztec cures: ‘the useless ones don’t work and the working ones could kill the patient’ (p94) Funny, ‘cos even the Spanish admitted that Mexica medicine was way ahead of the European equivalent... One Spaniard wrote that Aztec doctors had ‘so much experience that they were able to heal Spaniards, who had long suffered from chronic and serious diseases.’ And the Aztecs probably created the world’s first botanical gardens!

• (HERE WE GO!) The Aztecs sacrificed 50,000 people per year (1 every 10 minutes!), 20,000 ‘in a single party’ (p48), there were 136,000 skulls on the main skull rack (p109), Aztec warriors were ‘happy to eat dead enemies’ (p87), bodies would be ‘kicked down the steps to butchers below’ (p114) and the Aztecs ‘began to enjoy the cruelty’ (p124).
Even Hernán Cortés reckoned the Mexica sacrificed 3,000 per year! What size rack could fit 136,000 skulls?!?!
We all know the Spanish went bananas exaggerating the numbers, and blimey the Spanish can talk about cruelty - just look at what went on in the Inquisition...! Yes, they did sacrifices, but oh deary, get your numbers right, for Tonatiuh’s sake!

Read our original review of ‘The Angry Aztecs’

Comments (20)

erica

5th Dec 2023

Wow. Lotta people blinded by mediocre children’s nostalgia over an intensely racist and stereotypical book.

Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl

29th Jan 2022

Give back all the property that belongs to my people the Mexica, also give all credit to my Aztec families for what they have done for humanity and repent for your sins because time of reckoning is upon you

Jude

12th Sep 2016

Hello, your very judge mental and my mother told me that you need to forgive and forget. YOUR THE OPPOSITE!

Mexicolore

Well of course you’re right, and we must bow to your superior knowledge. But always remember to call a spade a spade: if, as you get older, you come across something that’s wrong, don’t be afraid to say so. Stick up for what’s right!

Jude

12th Sep 2016

Why do you always have to bash on everything?

Mexicolore

‘Always’?! You’re funny! And anyway, bashing is good for you. What would the world be like without bashed potatoes...

William

16th Aug 2016

come on people I bet most of you guys didn’t know that any of this stuff was wrong until you read the article. It’s not like you wrote a book so as jack Hibbard said
COOL IT!

Gbm

5th Dec 2015

But is it not highly possible that it indeed was the aztecs that killed Moctezuma II?
I did some reading on it today, and I learned that the aztec ruling was based on a system were the aztecs could revolt against the tlatoani, if he should show himself as weak and unfit for ruling. If I recall correctly, then after the massacre at the festival of tóxcatl, the spaniards send Moctezuma to try and appeal to the masses. The aztecs, furious with Moctezuma, then stoned him to death, and chose his brother as the new tlatoani. I think this is along the line of what Wikipedia said. Though maybe it was not after the festival, but later. Anyways, if you get caught up in the mood of the history, It becomes obvious, and makes a lot of sense why the aztecs deemed Moctezuma unfit for leadership. He was too much of an enabler for the spanish. He did wrong in trusting them, and continued to do so, even after the massacre.
So is it not highly possible that it was the aztecs that killed him?

Mexicolore

Of course it’s possible, Gustav, but the evidence points to the Spanish doing away with Moctezuma. There’s an image of him being throttled with rope by Spanish soldiers as he’s pulled back from the parapets of the palace - please see the detailed 3-part article ‘The Death of Moctezuma’ in our Moctezuma section...

Jack Hibbard

16th Sep 2015

I think everyone should cool it as I believe the book was also written humorously and was not meant to be a boring history book (Encyclopedias, etc etc)

Zoe Saadia

5th Aug 2013

Loved this article! Great analyza of every wrong point. We need more of those refuting articles for all kind of pre-hispanic-related literature out there.

Katia H

14th Jul 2013

That’s kinda ironic that y’all didn’t care for this book. The Angry Aztecs is actually the first book that got me interested in the Aztecs when I was around 9 years old. Also ironic that a kid from Texas found out about the Aztecs (“next door” to my state in Mexico) from a British book!

Mexicolore

Thanks, Katia. OK, he’s exonerated! You’re right, this is certainly ironic: yours is a rare good news story about this book that we’re happy to read about. You continue to send us really mature and thought-provoking feedback to the Mexicolore site, and for that we’ll always be grateful to Terry Deary.

carlos

3rd Jul 2013

btw, with wheels thing, i think he meant they onlyused them with toys

Mexicolore

Bet you any money you like he didn’t!

aztecdude

7th May 2012

you are sooo right

hood

4th Jan 2012

i never read that book and it makes me angry how ignorant that book is and how some people actually believe what that book says about my people thank god for your website

carlos

1st Nov 2011

he is right,your are wrong. other HH books and the tv show(both of them) have sympathy for the aztecs, SO READ THEM INSTEAD!!!!!!!

Mexicolore

That sounds good news. Relax, open a can of beans, keep your hair on!

carlos

1st Jun 2011

well the names may not embarrising but U WOULDNT LIKE 2 HAVE THEM!

carlos

22nd May 2011

you just like the aztecs, WELL THIS BOOK IS SUPPOSED MAKE YOU LOATHE THEM! YOU’VE GOT YOUR FACTS WRONG! TERRY DEARY IS STABBING HIMSELF IN THE STOMACH WITH A RUSTY BANNANA SINCE YOU SAID HE GOT IT WRONG!

Alan

19th May 2011

this dude is TERRIBLE at writing history-based books

Alice

1st Nov 2010

Your right. I like Terrys books but he could try and use some facts!!!!!

las vegas

15th Jun 2010

You’re SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong, I love Terry’s books

lauren

25th May 2010

You are sooo right about that. I red it, andsaid most the things in there are wrong and im only 11!!

sully

4th May 2010

the person who wrote the font in red was right because first all those facts are wrong i dont want to be cruel but GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT! if you arent writing or doing anything correct dont do it at all!

The Angry Aztecs - boo!