Born in the U.S.A. (Bruce Springsteen)

History's Best Selling Books of 1843

1. The Conquest of Mexico

   Released in 1843 by William Hickling Prescott, Harper & Brothers

   Published in 1843, 'The Conquest of Mexico' arrived at a pivotal moment in American history, just years before the Mexican-American War. This monumental historical work by William Hickling Prescott offered a dramatic and meticulously researched account of Hernán Cortés's subjugation of the Aztec Empire. Its release coincided with and significantly influenced the burgeoning American imperial ideology known as Manifest Destiny, which asserted the United States' divinely ordained right to expand across the continent. Prescott's narrative implicitly validated the idea of a 'civilized' power bringing progress to a 'lesser' culture, providing a potent historical precedent for contemporary expansionist ambitions.