The Fate of Earthly Things: Aztec Gods and God-Bodies by Molly H. Bassett (review)
Bourbon century, so Pearce’s polemical tone appears off-key, if not dissonant. Similarly, there are several places in the text in which Pearce undercuts his own argument. He flatly concedes that the post-1763 reforms were greater in number, more radical in nature, more ambitious in scope, and wider-ranging (p. 11) than those undertaken previously, but at the same time he maintains that the “essential character and direction” of reform was consistent across the century (p. 175). The evidence Pearce presents boasts scant engagement with intellectual history or peninsular political history; thus, this claim is difficult to sustain.