[marktwain]

Diaz wrote the book as an old man in his 80s.

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Well... He *finished* the book as an old man. He started the book *at minimum* 15-20 years before it was finished.

One of the prefaces for the book mentions a “daybook”, so Diaz may have kept a diary. He almost certainly was in close contact with former comrades for the 30 years before the first mention of him working on the manuscript in 1552.

It is clear that he considered the account to be valuable, so he likely took notes from conversations he had with people like Pedro Alverado, who was one of Cortez’ Lieutenants, who he served under several times. Alverado became the Governor of Guatemala in 1524.

[hanamizu]

Well... He *finished* the book as an old man. He started the book *at minimum* 15-20 years before it was finished.

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I just picture him as an old man who has lived an incredibly interesting life putting pen to paper. But I also like the idea of his book taking decades to finish. Imagine the conversations he and comrades in arms had. By the time he finished it, his and his comrades’ deeds were almost beyond living memory. What they accomplished approaches the mythological. No wonder people of the 16th & 17th centuries feared the Spanish.