Customer Reviews

The Last Days of the Incas

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

As others have noted, this is an extremely well written description of the rise and fall of Francisco Pizarro and his brothers and the fall of the Incas. MacQuarrie's writing is as fast-paced as a well-edited movie, a movie with heroic deeds, terrifying moments, heroes and villains, plot twists and tragedy. I recommend it without reservations.
However, there are a few things that would have helped or that I am still puzzled over. First, more maps and in greater detail to illustrate the various journeys described. Second, more photographs of the existing ruins and the general topography. The Lee drawings are excellent. Third, and more substantively, the disparity in numbers between Pizarro and the Incas was so great that it remains unclear how the Incas were unable to inflict more casualties in what amounts to hand to hand combat. Yes the horses made a difference but counteracting cavalry charges simply requires pikes or means of disabling the horses. Were the Incas really unable to solve this problem? Fourth, Similarly, if the Incas had the military genius needed to conquer so many more populous tribes, how come this genius suddenly disappeared when it came to the Spanish. Fifth, were the Incas really so naive that they believed that the Spaniards would operate differently than they themselves did with conquered people and territory? Sixth, what was it about Inca society that paralized it once the Inca was in the control of the Spanish. Certainly MacQuarrie illustrates the readiness on the Inca's kin to seek to displace him.
Clearly I have more reading to do, but MacQuarrie's book is a great starting place if you want to get hooked on this period of history.

If you want to read about the conquest of the Incas, one of the two biggest epic stories in the Americas (the other being Cortes' conquest of the Aztecs, then you really only have two choices: John Hemming's The Conquest of the Incas, and Kim MacQuarrie's The Last Days of the Incas. Hemming's book was published in 1970, thus recent discoveries in Peru during the last four decades are missing--and a lot has happened since then. It is a very detailed book with lots of footnotes and research, however, it was written by an academic and is average in writing quality. There is thus no attempt in Hemming's book to bring the characters to life, or even to tell their full stories. MacQuarrie's book, on the other hand, was published in 2007 and thus is very up-to-date. You'll learn about recent and important discoveries in 1999 and 2001, how Machu Picchu figured into the conquest and was discovered, and so on. But what really sets it apart from any other book on Inca history is the writing quality. The Last Days of the Incas is really a phenomenal read, the best that I've come across, period. Not since William Prescott's The Conquest of Peru (published in 1847 and a big best seller in its time, but now very outdated) has anyone achieved what MacQuarrie has achieved, bringing the conquest of the Incas back to life. The Last Days of the Incas is not only well researched and up-to-date, but the book is an amazing page-turner. Once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. The author really succeeds in recreating Pizarro and his conquistadors and the various Inca emperors as full, three-dimensional characters. In sum, if you want to transport yourself in a time machine back to the 16th century in Peru and feel what it was like to be a participant in the sprawling epic that was the conquest of the Inca civilization, there's only one book to get: The Last Days of the Incas. It's a real tour de force.

Just returned from a Machu Picchu trip; so sorry that I hadn't read this book before going, but so glad that I read it shortly after my return. A "must read" for anyone going to Peru, and a "must read" for anyone who has been there. The author captures the beauty of the Sacred Valley, the magnificence of the Incas' structures, the complexity of their culture, the history of the Spanish conquest, the reality of the battles, and brings the reader up-to-date on current discoveries in this historical country. An added bonus: no typos or grammatical errors. Well done!

12 years ago, motivated by a pictorial in National Geographic, I traveled to distant Peru. It was a fascinating journey, but after reading this book, I wished that I had it before I went (impossible, of course). I took it as a reverse travelogue, making sense of the places I had gone to and where they figured into the historical and exploratory narrative.

This book reads like a novel. In fact, I'd be surprised if it isn't ultimately converted into an HBO mini-series or the like. Interesting characters, from the puppet-turned-rebel Manco Inca, to the brash and vindicative Hernando Pizzaro, fill these pages and make them come to life. Revealed is an extra-ordinary account of the amazing conquest of a large and prosperous Empire by a small band of greedy Spanish outcasts.

Written in lucid prose, with numerous quotes, from Incas, Spaniards, and even outside philosophers, Kim MacQuarries does an excellent job of reaching out to the reader and creating a fascinating historical account. Well organized, the book even concludes with a complete description of the archeological work of the modern period associated with the recounted events and makes those almost as fascinating as the events themselves.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

(+)'s
--Well detailed historical account of the Incan empire and it's downfall
--I shook my head in amazement at the accounts of the Spanish conquest of the native population and it's resistance.

(-)
--Not really a minus but a comment about the entertainment value of the book. Most of us read for the enjoyment but all 522 pages of this book presents such dispair and hopelessness that I put it at par with Schindler's List for the disturbing nature on what man can inflict on man. It is packed with accounts of inconceivable atrocities, torture, hypocrisy, unimaginable cruelty, insatiable greed, and the list goes on and on. I enjoyed it but had to read it interspersed with other books