"Power was structured horizontally not hierarchically. Melton-Villanueva leaves us with the lasting impression that this is not just a colonial dinosaur that lasted into independence but also, in fact, a lesson for today's society."-Edward W. Osowski, Ethnohistory
"Melton-Villanueva conveys her narrative in an engaging, no-nonsense, and at times conversational style that makes the book accessible to scholars and students of all levels."-American Historical Review
"An innovative study that not only illuminates the transition from the colonial to postcolonial periods, but also offers several unique contributions to Colonial Mexican history."-Bulletin of Latin American Research
"Nicely written, Melton-Villanueva's book changes the general assumption that writing in Nahuatl ended before 1800."-Hispanic American Historical Review
"A powerful and unique view of Nahuatl speakers at the time of Independence in Mexico."-The Americas
"Melton-Villanueva's meticulously researched and highly accessible book, The Aztecs at Independence: Nahua Culture Makers in Central Mexico, takes us down a path we thought to be impossible to trace: a journey toward understanding Nahua life in the 19th century, utilizing sources created by indigenous people themselves."-UNLV News Center
"Melton-Villanueva's personal connection to the region allows her to marry archival fieldwork studies while giving living breath [to] a culture frequently referred to only in past tense. This then creates a historical monograph you actually want to continue reading."-Mark Z. Christensen, author of Translated Christianities: Nahuatl and Maya Religious Texts
"Astute observations about local Nahua society on the cusp of the colonial and independence periods."-Kevin Terraciano, author of The Mixtecs of Colonial Oaxaca: Ñudzahui History, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries
"Melton-Villanueva fundamentally changes the field of Nahuatl studies with her discovery, transcription, translation, and painstaking analysis of more than 150 Nahuatl language testaments that 'weren't supposed to exist.'"-Kelly McDonough, author of The Learned Ones
"This carefully researched work shines much-needed light on a crucial period in the social history of Spanish America: the transition from late colonial times to the early republic in indigenous communities in central Mexico. Melton-Villanueva's important contribution comes in three parts: she illuminates the apprenticeship of indigenous notaries, reveals the substrate of Nahua authorial practices in Spanish-language wills, and documents the social and economic history of Nahua women. An eminently thoughtful work."-David Tavárez, author of The Invisible War: Indigenous Devotions, Discipline, and Dissent in Colonial Mexico