BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

The stone Jaguar (photographed above) was used by Aztecs as a container for human hearts. Brave warriors, captured in battle, were taken atop a pyramid and into the Temple of Huitzilopochtli-the fearsome Aztec God of War. Four assistants held the sacrificial victim down by his limbs, arching  his body backwards over a stone. A priest sliced open his abdomen below the ribcage with an obsidean blade, thrust his hand through the internal organs of the chest cavity, and ripped out the often still-pulpating heart.

Many students contend that taking a class with Dr. Sherman is a similar experience. But this is not necessarily so. John W. Sherman overwhelmingly lectures in his courses, and only by taking thorough lecture notes does one handle his challenging exams in triumph - like victorious warriors, Aztec princesses, Jaguar Knights. The fate for such worthy students is an "A", not the obsidean blade, and candidacy (in 4000-level courses on Latin America) for the $1000 Nezahalcoyotl Prize, established by Dr. Sherman to honor students of exception.

John Sherman earned his Ph.D. under the tutelage of Michael C. Meyer, the well known historian of Mexico at the University of Arizona. A native Ohioan, John's interest in Mexico was first sparked in his youth, when he spent time with his grandparents on the Arizona-Mexican border. Aftera hiatus of nearly a decade, in 2013-14 he is relaunching his flagship Mexico (since Independence) course. Aztecs and other cultures are explored in Colonial Latin America; Evita Perón garners appropriate attention in Argentina; Dr. Sherman addresses some of his latest research endeavers in Comparative Third World Genocide.