Berdan has authored many influential books about the Aztec civilization. In 1983, she received an "Outstanding Professor" award from California State University.[2] In 1986, she was a fellow at Dumbarton Oaks with Michael E. Smith and other prominent Mesoamerican scholars. The result of that stay was the book Aztec Imperial Strategies (1986).[3]
Berdan, Frances F.; Smith, Michael E. (1996a). "1. Introduction". In Frances Berdan; Richard Blanton; Elizabeth Hill Boone; Mary G. Hodge; Michael E. Smith; Emily Umberger (eds.). Aztec Imperial Strategies. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. ISBN0-88402-211-0. OCLC27035231.
Berdan, Frances F.; Smith, Michael E. (1996b). "9. Imperial Strategies and Core-Periphery Relations". In Frances Berdan; Richard Blanton; Elizabeth Hill Boone; Mary G. Hodge; Michael E. Smith; Emily Umberger (eds.). Aztec Imperial Strategies. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. ISBN0-88402-211-0. OCLC27035231.