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Many books are journeys; this one unfolded as I walked
the streets of Mexico City, often side by side with other
scholars whose passion for the place fed my own. Shar-
ing ideas and observations with them has enriched this
book. Memorable walks in search of the sixteenth-century
city included those with María Castañeda de la Paz and
Carlos González González around Moyotla in March of
2009; two months later, María, Clementina Battcock, and
Saúl Pérez Castillo and I crisscrossed Cuepopan; John F.
López, Rosario and Luis Fernando Granados, Kristopher
Driggers, and Sara Ryu hunted down the city’s water sys-
tems with me in March of 2011; in May of 2012, over nine
hours, Jonathan Truitt, William Connell, and I explored
three of the four colonial parishes, or parcialidades; in Janu-
ary of 2013, Gibran Bautista y Lugo, Aaron Hyman, Sara
Ryu, and Lynda Klitch braved the blazing sun with me in
Moyotla; and most recently, Byron Hamann and I covered
the southern cities (on bike, not on foot). I thank all of my
fellow walkers for sharing their company and their ideas.
Very much with us in spirit on all those walks (although
not in person) was Edward Calnek, whose work on the
sixteenth-century city and generosity with material have
benefited us all.
Those walks, like this book, had their antecedent in
research carried out for a volume on the Beinecke Map,
now at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
and in April of 2007 Pablo Escalante, Saeko Yanaguisawa,
Alejandro Alcántara, and I went in search of Atlixocan.
My particular thanks go to Mary Miller and Dennis Carr,
who first invited me to speak at the conference that resulted
in the volume on the Beinecke Map. In addition to them,
María, Pablo, Diana Magaloni Kerpel, and Gordon Whit-
taker contributed to that book, and my understanding
of sixteenth-century Mexico City has been enriched by
ongoing conversations with all of them. Thanks also to Linda
Arnold, Elizabeth Boone, Jeffrey Collins, Patricia Con-
nelly, Gustavo Coronel, Jordana Dym, María Teresa Gar-
cía García, Salvador Guilliem, Gerardo Gutiérrez, Patrick
Hajovsky, Leonardo López Lujan, Xavier Noguez, Michel
Oudijk, Dorothy Tanck de Estrada, Emily Umberger, and
Olga Vanegas, as well as to the two anonymous reviewers
for the press, whose suggestions helped make this a better
book. While in Mexico City, I have been indebted to the
hospitality and generosity of James Oles, Roberto Mayer,
Laura Palazuelos, Miguel Legaria, and Cuca Valero. It has
been a privilege to work with so many talented students
during the course of research, including Kristopher Drig-
gers, Jorge Gómez Tejada, Sarah Hetherington, Aaron
Hyman, Sara Ryu, and Lauren Toole. I also thank the staff
at the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City, espe-
cially Guillermo Sierra Araujo, and at Mapoteca Orozco y
Berra, especially Carlos Vidali Rebolledo. My wonderful
art historian colleagues at Fordham, both past and present,
have been keen readers of the work in progress, and they
include Kimberly Bowes, Andrée Hayum, Kathryn Hele-
niak, JoAnna Isaak, Nina Rowe, and Maria Ruvoldt. Ford-
ham University faculty grants also gave me necessary time
off and resources to complete the book. Friendships have
sustained me, particularly those with Jennifer Egan and
Titia Hulst. The manuscript is a better work for passing
through the careful scrutiny of Gloria Thomas, its copyedi-
tor. But my deepest thanks go to Byron Hamann and Dana
Leibsohn, who carefully read the manuscript, in Dana’s case
twice, and offered excellent suggestions for improvement.
My husband, Gerry Marzorati, has lived patiently with
me and this work, as have our two sons, Guy and Luca
Marzorati, giving me support and encouragement through
it all: it is to these men in my life that I dedicate this book.