The Last of the Incas: The Rise and Fall of an American Empire [Hardcover]

Edward Hyams (Author), George Ordish (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Dorset Press,U.S.; 2nd Revised edition edition (January 1, 1963)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880295953
• ISBN-13: 978-0880295956
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,711,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a quick and engrossing read on the inca empire, April 27, 2004

By 

pluaa - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last of the Incas: The Rise and Fall of an American Empire (Hardcover)

I read this while travelling in ecuador and couldn't part with it. It was quick enough to not get bogged down in details. It gave a brief history of the inca empire, and then analyzed its downfall in greater detail.

The insights I gained from reading this book helped me to gain a greater understanding of Latin American culture. The societal structure of Latin America before the conquistadors came and its subsequent disintegration help an American to understand why Latin America sometimes seems so chaotic and backwards.

It was the first book on the Incas whose message really stuck with me.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Crazy Commie Propaganda Circa 1963, August 25, 2008

By 

R. Taney "A Confluence of Excellence and Char... (At the Big Summer Classic in Schaumburg) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last of the Incas: The Rise and Fall of an American Empire (Hardcover)

This book is hilarious. Purchased for $1 at a book sale I got at least 3 hours of laughs out of it. Aside from the flimsy arguments and self-defeating prose the authors basically concede that they have nothing to work with.

All this is amusing. But the fact they are apologists for Stalin is the only reason to pick up this counter-factual drivel. Attacks on private property and wage slaves abound. The Incas and their Socialist paradise were apparently a beacon in the New World. Which may be true. They didn't eat people with the gusto of the Aztecs.

The claims about the Inca people )just like the Soviets) freely giving their time and lives to work on public projects for the greater good are shocking and unbelievable. He is clearly defending the White Sea Canal, Chinese Great Leap Forward and other grave crimes against humanity.

Suffice it to say the vigorous laughter which these outrageous clown authors evoked in 2008 would not have been merited when it was written in 1963.