Conrad and Demarest part 0ne

Even Though in the first two chapters of Religion and empire the authors mainly focused on the Aztec rise to power in the region and the role of human sacrifice and religion in that rise to prominence in the 15th century there are elements to the black legend.  Even though the authors didn't go into detail of the Spanish treatment or interaction with the Aztec the author tries to paint the natives as lower class belonging to an "unsophisticated cultures" that they  were "accidental victims in the struggles of the mighty."  The author more then once referred to the empires as backwards and gives you the impression that the Natives were helpless victims.  In the second chapter the author refers to the Spanish interaction with the natives as a holocaust a word that implies in the American culture a more graphic destruction of a people and culture.  Though the book isn't completely about the black legend some of the points and language that the author uses leads me to the conclusion that there is some belief on the writers part that legend is true.