The book by the well-known American ethnologist Victor von Hagen presents the history of the Aztecs, Maya, and Incas. Hagen highlights and subjects to detailed analysis the most important stages in the formation of these cultures—from their beginnings and dynamic development to the moment of their fall. The author covers all aspects of the practical and spiritual life of the peoples of the sun-kingdoms. Easily and engagingly, the scholar tells how they ran their economy, practiced crafts, formed marriages and raised children, about their religious beliefs and bloody human sacrifices, about ways of waging war and weapons, about the tax system, crimes and punishments…