Book excerpt: To this day, the relationship between Hernán Cortés and his translator La Malinche remains confusing. Was Cortés a double-crossing murderer or a heroic conqueror? Was La Malinche, an enslaved woman from Aztec royalty, an intelligent woman doing what was necessary to stay alive or the betrayer of her people? The history books have not been kind to her. However you view this pair, one thing is clear: their stories cannot be told without linking their biographies. As your readers will find out, there is little doubt that their pairing forever changed Mexico and the Americas.