The Last Days of the Incas

A popular topic of discussion in European intellectual circles over the last couple of centuries has been the so-called Black Legend. Largely formulated in northern Protestant Europe, the Black Legend holds the the golden age of the Spanish Empire was a nightmare of brutality, repression, fanaticism and exploitation, and that the Spanish, both in Europe and in their American colonies, gloried in unspeakable acts in the name of God and the Spanish king. Not surprisingly, this belief was particularly strong in Britain and the Netherlands, two countries who had plenty of history with the Spanish. Equally unsurprisingly, the Spanish strongly reject the Black Legend, to the extent that some scholars now refer to a White Legend, a show more Spanish-sponsored revisionism which goes to the other extreme and portrays the Spanish as, if not exactly enlightened colonizers, as certainly much more humane than they have been portrayed. I’m not versed enough in Spanish colonial history to offer an educated opinion one way or another on the validity or otherwise of the Black Legend, however, after reading this book, I am quite comfortable saying that on the basis of Spanish activities in Peru, the Black Legend seems much more likely than the White. You will seldom find a more horrifying account of greed, brutality, venality and treachery than the history of Francisco Pizzaro’s conquest of the Inca Empire. There is really no saving grace for Spain here. In the space of four decades, a few thousand Spaniards wiped out a great and cultured civilization, murdered uncountable numbers of its inhabitants and subjected the rest to slavery, all in the name of God, Gold and Glory. The noble side of the story is the heroic resistance the Inca, using spears and swords against horses, muskets, armour and cannon, put up for those forty years. This is an extremely well-written account of horrors beyond imagining, an ugly and brutal story that is nonetheless enthralling. It is topped and tailed by an exciting account of the discovery of the lost Inca cities of Macchu Picchu and Vilcabamba and the eccentric characters who believed enough in the legends to go out and find them. I guess we wait now for Spanish revisionism of this story. I can’t see how it can be done, but it will be some job of restoration if it is achieved show less

Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro was the illegitimate son of a very poor woman who became the ruler of Peru by conquering the Incas. The Incas put up a good fight, and won many battles. But their territory continued to shrink as the Incas sought a place to live in the mountains. This book tells their story from the Spanish arrival and the death of the last Inca emperor. The book feels comprehensive but interesting. My only complaint is the author editorializing too much: he states as fact the Incas were benevolent rulers and theirs was a utopia. I think that goes too far. Just because the Spanish were so wrong in everything they did in colonizing the Americas, that doesn’t mean the opposite (in essence a perfect society) is true show more of the colonized peoples. Setting that aside, it’s an excellent history of the end of the Incas and Peru sounds so beautiful and bountiful. show less

A fascinating and very detailed account of the Spanish conquest of Peru. Very informative account of the despicable and barbaric behavior of the Spanish invaders who pillaged and raped their way through the Inca empire.

Irrespective of sentiments and political correctness (PC Brigade alert), Pizzaro's conquest of the Incas-while nefarious-also holds perpetual lessons for us in the form of leadership contrasts between both the Conquistadores and the Incan Royalty. And these contrasts form a crucial backdrop to MacQuarrie's narration of the rise and fall of the Incan Empire. Intertwined alongside are the fates of the Pizzaro clan and the turns in their fortunes. This is an epic tour de force rendition of a tragic history which reverberates as viscerally today as it did when the events mentioned transpired.

Mr. MacQuarrie has written a more colourful update to John Hemming's book on the destruction of the Empire of the Four Quarters. The tone is somewhat more sensation, the information is sketchier in some areas, but as in the case of the identification of the "Lost City" of Vilcabamba, the coverage is more fine grained. The book benefits from the research and archaeology done since Hemming's day, and there is more information about the actual function and probable history of Machu Picchu. If you have read this book as well as the earlier book by Hemming, you will be well equipped for going deeper into the Inca culture, and that of the Spanish Empire as a whole.

This was a well researched and well written account of the Spanish conquest of the Inca nation. I was naturally appalled, if not surprised, at the way the Spanish treated the natives. That said, it is equally important to remember the atrocities committed by the Incas in the name of religion. They were not the nicest people either. Last Days of the Incas was a page turner from the first encounter between Francisco Pizarro and the Inca to the final showdown between the warring Spanish over who would have control of the new colonies. Then, in an epilogue, MacQuarrie jumps forward to 1911 and gives a general overview of the modern explorers who discovered the ruins of the Inca cities, including Machu Picchu. At this point, things got a show more little weird for me. The material was still interesting, just in terms of knowing the timeline of when and how some of these amazing ruins were discovered, but I think the ins and outs of the competition to publish first and the personal lives of some of the explorers might well be a different book. Highly recommended, but beware. If you didn't already have Peru on your bucket list, you will after you read this book. show less

I wish there was more information available about the Incas pre-Pizarro, but there really isn't; what there is is here, along with a detailed and engrossing account of the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Excellent stuff and a gripping story.