Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain

Collision of Worlds: A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain by David M. Carballo

This academic book explores the histories of Spain and Mexico before and immediately after Cortes conquered the Aztecs. The language is dense, though the primary sources are meager. Both areas had rich cultures that were well developed before they met. The Aztecs had recently come to dominate and tenuously held a domination over other peoples in the area. The Spaniards were able to exploit these rivalries with alliances. The warfare culture was also different. The Aztecs fighters were focussed primarily on their own achievements and preferred prisoners, while the Spaniards would kill. Culturally, the Spaniards were fine killing unbelievers, but were repulsed by the Aztec human sacrifices. Mexicans had sports and ball games as well as language and worship that were interesting to Spaniards while at the same time seen as somewhat heretical. The Spaniards worked on the conversion with the conquering, with Christianity and churches placed over former Mexican pyramids and worship sites. It is also interesting that the Spaniards focussed on areas familiar to them. The Yucatan was a bit too hard for them to manage. Diseases also worked in the Spaniards favor as the Mexicans had little animal culture and the exposure to disease. Could things have turned out differently?

A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain

Spain has had quite the history of corruption and incompetence. This book generally covers the last century until today. World War II is covered, but it is gone over quickly. Franco's Spain was more of a "little brother to a little brother". They wanted to be aligned with Germany to gather the spoils, but really didn't provide strategic value. The right wing government had little understanding of economics and thought they could get a Spanish miracle by printing money. Alas, that didn't work. However there was plenty of corruption around. (There was also the curious case of the regime accusing those that were opposed to their initial coup as being "enemies of the state."
Spain just seemed to have a mess of a leadership. Franco's regime was in principle a conservative response to the rising communist/socialist powers. However, it seemed that ideology was second fiddle to personal aggrandizement. Franco and his cronies accumulated great riches. Spain would boom and bust.
Even post Franco, the leadership had interesting ways of doing things. King Juan Carlos was popular. But his reputation fell in part due to a "friendship" with a lady. The country was able to prosper with huge construction booms. However, these would be very cyclical, leaving periods of massive unemployment. There was also plenty of corruption in rezoning of properties to allow for the big construction booms.
There is also the matter of Catalan and Basque country. There are regular cries for independence and plebiscite votes, and even violence. However, the regions still remain part of Spain. The leftists, especially in the cities, regularly rise up in the name of workers. Some people do end up with nice government jobs, but the workers often do not end up significantly better off.
The book paints a picture of a continual mess of corruption and incompetence that has not really changed in the past century. Luckily, the Germans and Brits love the land and somehow find a way of helping to keep the Spanish governmental mess from collapsing.