- ISBN13: 9780743260503
- Condition: USED – LIKE NEW
- Notes:
In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed — due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway…. More >>
Before I read this book, my knowledge of the Inca Empire was limited to a vague notion that they once had a great civilization that was quickly destroyed by a small bunch of Spaniards. I had no idea of the blood curdling drama that awaited me. Kim MacQuarrie’s book is a riveting, thrill a minute tale written with such a skillful combination of high stakes immediacy and elegant restraint that I couldn’t wait to get to the next chapter and on some occasions, (like when Manco Inca first mobilized the Incas into rebellion to name but one example), I had to remind myself to exhale. Right up to the end, I was willing the Incas to prevail, all the while knowing that their days were numbered. The fact that all the issues it so painstakingly and beautifully brings to the surface are scarily relevant to today’s world does the book no disservice either. Read it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I absolutely loved this book. Everyone in my family loved this book. It is a rip-roaring adventure that explains an important piece of South American history in a way that captivates the attention at the same time that it makes that particular period in history understandable. How could a small group of illiterate Spanish explorers change the history of an empire of 10 million people? This book is a real-life example of the ideas proposed in the book “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” Although I visited many of the important sites in Peru in which the story takes place a few years ago, I now want to return in order to see those places again from the vantage point of what I learned in “The Last Days of the Incas.” This book makes history come alive and the lessons contained therein have relevance in today’s world.
Dr. Betsy Hesser
Rating: 5 / 5
As an amateur Inca enthusiast planning my first trip to Peru I purchased a copy of “The Last Days of the Incas” after reading a review in the newspaper. I wasn’t disappointed. Kim MacQuarrie’s prose brings what is one of the most exciting stories that has ever occurred in the Americas to life in vivid and startling detail. Once I began reading the book, I literally was unable to put it down. Not only does “The Last Days of the Incas” bring the conquest to life, but it also includes chapters on the modern discoveries of Inca ruins in Peru, and also explains how Machu Picchu (a must see) fits into the history of the Inca Empire. This book does an amazing job of placing you at the heart of the conquest. Francisco Pizarro and his four brothers come completely to life as do a colorful assortment of other Inca and Spanish characters. You’ll feel the sharp wind in the Andes whipping round your legs, the buzz of bullets from harquebusiers whizzing by your ears as you experience the valiant and brave efforts of the rebel Inca emperor, Manco Inca, struggle against all odds to hold onto his empire. If you are going on vacation to Peru or South America, or just want to experience an amazing and epic story first hand, then I can’t recommend this book enough. Really extraordinary.
Rating: 5 / 5
Mr. MacQuarrie’s description of the historic showdown between Pizarro’s rag-tag band of 100 Spaniards and thousands of the finest Incan troops is brilliant. He has a real gift for suspense, and the ability of the Spanish to use their armor, artillery, and horses to slaughter several thousand Incans is vividly brought to life.
While MacQuarrie indicts the Spanish for a great genocidal crime, he does not, to his credit, romanticize the Incans. The Incans did not form a 10 million person empire by playing softball. They engaged in their own forms of conquest, and the system was extraodinarily hierarchical and oppressive to the ordinary Incan. And the Incan emperor was not some well-meaning character out of a Disney movie. His plan was to slaughter the Spanish and then to castrate a few surivors to turn them into suitable guards for his harem.
Still, the rapaciousness of the Spanish is appalling. They had no regard for the Incan civilization and wanted only the gold and silver and the benefits of being the master race.
MacQuarrie convincingly shows that the Spanish armor and horses made them invincible on a flat field of battle. This, and the extraordinary centralization of the Incans that made them vulnerable to the kidnap and coopting of their emperor, explains how a band of 160 men could conquer a nation of 10 million. By the time the Incans figured out the need to engage in a guerilla war, it was too late, and they were defeated by the Spanish.
The book suffers from three important flaws. First, there is no original scholarship here, though MacQuarrie has done an excellent job of culling through the sources and studies that are available. Second, to spice up the story, MacQuarrie imagines events and adds detail to make the narrative read like a narrative — inserting “undoubtedly” whenever he introduces some such sort of speculation. Third, the story of the Twentieth Century explorers’ rediscovery of the lost Incan ruins is not particularly interesting and wastes a good portion of the book. Why not tell us more about how the Spanish stamped out this civilization once the last emperor is executed?
On the whole, a very interesting and informative book.
Rating: 3 / 5
I got this on a whim and couldn’t put it down. Excellent, well researched tome on the conquering of the Inca civilization, with lots of cultural detail. I heartily recommend this book to folks interested in the Incas, prehistoric American cultures in general and those wanting to know what a complete clash of cultures can portend.
Rating: 5 / 5