|
Review Summary: Still one of the best analyses of the Conquest of Peru |
Date: 2007-03-27 |
|
| |
|
Details: A must read for anybody interested in one of the most amazing events in world history. I recommend reading the book before and (especially) after traveling to Peru. The key battles and turning points of the conquest are analyzed from both the viewpoint of the Spaniards and the Incas. |
| |
|
Review Summary: The best history of the Incas |
Date: 2007-01-20 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: The Incas and the conquest of Peru are two of the most interesting stories in latin American history. This book captures the whole of that story and in wonderful detail relates the invasion of Pizzaro and the fall of the Incas. From Manco Inca to Tuti Cosi the Inca rebellions raged against Spanish occupation and eventually resulted in the free Inca state of Villacamba. In the end this state was doomed to fall to Spanish greed but the attempts at the Incas to preserve sovereignty is impressive. The writing style is excellent and the book is a very quick read. If you want to get a start on learning about the Inca's there is not a better book out there. If you are starting a study of South America as a whole this is an essential addition to that library. Highly recommend. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Riveting tale of an intriguing lost culture |
Date: 2007-01-16 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: After visiting Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia (and the many Incan and pre-Incan ruins), I was enthralled by the culture and what they had left behind. I had considered other books (namely the ones by Hiram Bingham and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega), but I wanted to read something that was able to bring the whole story together from a variety of sources. Despite at times being confusing because of the use of direct quotes from his sources, Hemming is able to go into colorful detail about the lives of the Incas and Spanish during the Conquest. He does so in an unbiased way. The descriptions of the battles in Cusco and the surrounding area were especially interesting for me, having just visited the area and seeing firsthand the destruction committed by the Spanish conquistadors. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Booooooooring |
Date: 2007-01-09 |
|
| |
Details: Wow. If you need to know who went to the bathroom where at what time while so-and-so was standing watch, this is the book for you! The author goes in to exceptional detail, and it is presumably historically acurate [or at least he tells it with such confidence that you beleive it is]
Also, there are lots of footnotes, but they don't lead to the bottom of the page, you have to turn to the back of the book, which can be frustrating at times.
I am fascinated with the Incas and their "disappearance" and was looking forward to a good book on the subject, but after making it about 1/2 way through the book, I had to throw in the towel. |
| |
|
Review Summary: The Beauty of Beauty |
Date: 2006-03-04 |
|
|
| |
Details: I think that every person who lives in the Western Hemisphere needs to go to Peru or Bolivia and visit the ruins of one of the greatest civilazations that ever inhabited the earth at least once in there lifetime. There were the Egyptians, Athenians and the Incas. I visited Peru this past Xmas and this book made the trip 10 times more interesting. It opened my eyes to where I was standing, it opened my eyes to what I was looking at and it opened my eyes to the greatness of a people who were exploited in the latter years of there civilization later to be unsurped by the Spanish way of life.
This book takes you back to the beginning and explains how Pizarro and the Spaniards were able to fool and capture the Inca ruler Atahualpa. Then with superior weapons and armor and most of all, horses were able to fool and be admitted as rightful rulers of the former Empire of the Incas. This book does not look at the Spaniards in a harsh light. It describes them as doing the best that they could because they believed in the morality of the bible but greed took over their initial desires. The world is run more by money than faith. But the book notes that things could have been worse if a northern European power had discovered America and I agree. In the end though the best wishes and desires of the Spanish king could not conquer that awesome clitter that the sun brings to gold. It is something no man, espcially one from that time period can escape.
But the Incas were enslaved and put to work in harsh mines. They knew nothing about money or about Catholism but they were made to worship both. This book is a great study of greed and how it ingulfes ones soul. But there were heroes who fought for the Indians and their were rules made to protect them but the lust for gold blinded most. If you want to continue with the story of the Incas and their decendents after the closure of the book I recemment "Born in Blood and Fire" by John Charles Chasteen. |
| |
out of 14 Reviews
