Conquest of the Incas is a great book for learning about the history of the Spanish conquest of a massive empire. The author is very thorough with respect to the actual conquest, but should have filled in more detail at the beginning of process. By page 100 the Incan empire had essentially fallen to the Spaniards. Surely more occured that is note worthy. This aside, the only other fault is the style in which the book is crafted. The author relies heavily on translated material. This is fine, but the quotations are not offset to distinguish them from his writings. It was easy to get lost between what he was claiming and what someone else said. Moreover, the text was endnoted rather than footnoted, and it was rather annoying to have to constantly flip to the end of the book to find out who was actually saying some of the things. Overall a very readable book. I would recommend it to anyone seeking to learn the general history of the conquest.

I began this book just before my visit to Peru and read it along the way - a great way to prepare for the trip and to absorb more during an incredibly educational experience. It really was a key part of my enjoyment of the trip, because I was able to glean more from our various guides and better appreciate the ruins and spanish buildings, particularly in and around Cuzco. The book is an interesting read, but note that the fall of the Incas is essentially completed during the first 100 pages - a good thing if you want a thorough understanding of the history in a very brief time, a bad thing if you were looking for more detail. (I actually liked this aspect of the book.) Another key to this book's success is Hemming's ability to convey who was actually writing the history since of course the goings on would be viewed and recorded differently by spanish conquistadors vs. religious types, to say nothing of the difference of opinion about what happened between the Spanish and the native quechuas. He does a good job of illustrating the different views and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions about what may have actually happened. I found out about this book from Lonely Planet-the key travel book for the area-and I agree with them and thoroughly recommend it. No trip to Peru should be taken without it!

This is a readable and authoritative account of Pizarro's conquest of Peru and search for El Dorado in the 1530's: a must-read backgrounder for those who plan a trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu and an astounding account of war strategies and incredible upsets in a hostile mountain terrain between unequal forces with vastly different technologies. It gives real understanding into present-day relationships between the Spanish and native peoples in South America. I couldn't put it down.

Having been recommended this book by Amazon and hearing reviews comparing it to Gary Jenning's Aztec, I was expecting a whole lot more. It was like expecting Raiders of the Lost Ark and getting Remo Williams instead.

This book is painfully slow and I found myself stuck on the first 200 pages. The story of the Incas centers on the death of the current ruler. He has not named a successor though his various sons are vieing for the privilege. Just before his death the ruler had confided in a blue eyed girl who was stolen from another tribe. After his death everyone wants to know what was said to her and whether the ruler named a successor.

Meanwhile in Spain, there is a kind of scoundrel named Gabriel who escapes the Inquisition and somehow ends up with Pizarro. Pizarro tells of his gruelling trip to Peru and the gold that awaits there. He is trying to get together an invading force to sail to the New World and exploit the gold. All of this sounds way more interesting than the book actually is.

The book is followed by two more but I think I'll stop at this one. Read Jennings instead. The story of Cortez's invasion of Mexico is way better!

After reading the first two parts of the Incas trilogy, I can say that "The gold of Cuzco" is better than the first part, "The puma's shadow". The three authors have now achieved the consistency and class their book deserved.

In this second part, the spanish conquistadores are now a part of the Inca empire's life: there's no way to pretend they're not there, and after the death of Atahualpa it's the spanish that now rule de facto. However, the spanish Governador, Pizarro, must be an almost perfect politician, because he has to rule over the increasing fight for gold and power among the spanish officials and he must not let the remaining of the inca army to uprise again. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Anamaya, the main characters and love-duo of the first book, even in a crazed lust for each other, are not able to be together that often: Anamaya is the wife of the revered statue that represents all incas' ancestors, and Gabriel is spanish, which means that all incas see him as ruthless, evil and whose only interest in their lands is gold and raping women (not a beautiful vision).

The style remains the same: narrated in first person, the story seems to flow smoothly and continuously. But the plot is better, more exciting and interesting. The characters, though, at some times seem formulaic: the spanish are bad people, the incas are naïve, the inca princess falls in love with the only spaniard that stands for the inca people. Yes, I've seen it before, but "The gold of Cuzco" is nevertheless a good book. Descriptions of the peruvian Andes countryside are very rich and real. The slow pace of the narration provides the reader with a very accurate mental image of the scenes in the story. As I've written in my review of the first book in the trilogy, the three authors have the needed background to write the story mixing essencial historical facts with the right amount of fiction to deliver an interesting book of historical fiction.

Now, on to "The light of Macchu Picchu", the third and final part of the series.

Grade 9.0/10

Nowadays, the reader has to be careful about historic fiction. There is a big number of authors who, having made the smallest research about some point or other in history, give birth to terrible books advertised as "historic fiction", whereas "historic" is some tiny background barely mentioned in the plot, and the "fiction" is the worst possible.

I must admit I had this feeling about the Inca trilogy, but since there is very few fiction books concerning the Inca people, and I enjoy reading about pre-Colombian people, and (best of all) I received this one as a gift, I fave it a try.

About the author: in fact there are three authors (Antoine B. Daniel is a kind of compilation of their names); one of them is a history scholar, the other one is a awarded fiction writer, etc, and the story behind the book is that they gathered to write about the Incas like Jennings wrote about the Aztecs.

"The puma's shadow" (in Brazil, like in France, the title is "Princess of the sun") is the first part of the trilogy. In this first volume, we get to know the Inca empire shortly before the arrival of the spanish: the struggle for power between Huascar and Atahualpa, based on the visions of the female main character of the book: the strange, blue-eyed Anamaya. On the other side, in Spain, we are acquainted with Don Gabriel, a deserted young man, who seeks fortune in the new lands of Peru.

The first part of the trilogy is where the reader knows the backgrounds (the dying days of the Inca empire) and the motivations of the main characters.

I think this may be the slowest book of the trilogy, but it's very well written and the research seems well done. The three authors deserve the praise to have acomplished a good book with an unusual theme and fairly developed characters.

Grade 8.8/10

The book, written by a small interdisciplinary team, has clearly benefitted from this cooperation. It provides an excellent overview of Inca astronomy as reported in Spanish documentary sources, which are put to the test by first-hand astronomical and archaeological observations. It also carefully examines some of the currently dominant yet more speculative approaches to the subject. Very much recommended. Fred Spier

An important synthesis of data on Inca astronomy, well-written and well researched by two experts in the field, an archaeologist/historian and an astronomer. Recommended for serious students of othe ancient Andes.

An important synthesis of data on Inca astronomy, well-written and well researched by two experts in the field, an archaeologist/historian and an astronomer. Recommended for serious students of othe ancient Andes

In January 1987 a group of tomb robbers at Huaca Rajada on Peru's north coast had their dreams come true. They stumbled on a pre-Inca tomb of unsurpassed wealth (read: gold) at a site everybody else had written off as already having been plundered. Unfortunatley, for them, greed was their undoing.

What they did manage to sell on the market was mostly exported out of Peru before the archaeolgists at the local museum found out what was going on.

This book details an investigation into international art smuggling, and the parallel investigation into the Moche site that the tomb robbers had found and the archaeologists later excavated.

In style, this book is esentially an extended magazine article. The text is quite large and easy to read. It's not really a big book. There is a colour picture section in the center of the book, but it can't really be called an academic book. In my view what really lets this work down is the lack of drawings etc of the historical site and excavation that they are talking about in the text.

If you've never read any books on the Moche before (and I haven't except the occasional magazine article), this book leaves you feeling somewhat dissasisfied because you want to know *more*, but it's a great introduction and overview to a series of very important events in re-discovering this ancient civilisation.

This is a great story of what happens when grave robbers find something just too good to keep a secret. The tombs they found were full of untold wealth. The personalities of the main characters in this tale are as fascinating as the beautiful treasure they unearth. This reads like fiction but as one other reviewer noted it is all true. I didn't feel the book had a strong finish, but the story itself was irresistable.

At first I found this book (supposededly a true story)written in fictional style and too detailed in some cases to be considered real. But at the time I read this book and living in Lima Peru where the event takes place, I was able to do my own investigation. Now after having read this a second time and meeting others who know of this event first hand, including the police chief in Northern Peru, I can assure you everything I have questioned is 100% true.

The book is about the historic and heroic efforts of Dr. Walter Alva and several North American archiologists who helped uncover a lost civlization in South America and one of the largest finds of Gold and invaluable artifacts ever discovered in South America. It is a story of drama, money, murder and virtue winning in the end. Anyone interested in learning of a true to life experience, written like a novel, of Latin American Archiology will enjoy this book. It is a page turner.

Lima, Peru June 7, 2000

I felt that this book would be extremely helpful to me when I read it in America. When I got to Cuzco I found that it was not giving me much more than I could have got on my own. The local trips were well documented in the day trip section. The walks from downtown Cuzco to the surrounding ruins imparticularly were quite good.

The book suffered however through a lack of maps when it came to the longer journeys. Elevation markings, are extremely important in the Andes, the trips were inconceviable without them, and there are no maps in the Cuzco area that are worth mentioning. I had planned to go off on my own to do a journey the last 6 days of my month there and had to cancel it from the information being so shoddy.

I believe it is a good book for local tourism with a adventurous tinge, but do not rely on his directions going farther than that unless you have, like him, lived there for a considerable amount of time.

This book details numerous walks and treks which I hiked during a year-long stay in Cuzco. The popular and historic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is included along with other scenic hikes in the Cordilleras Vilcanota, Vilcabamba, and Urubamba. The text is accompanied by maps for each of the routes, photos, and drawings of area wildlife. I have broadened the text with information about the history, beliefs, and wildlife of the area and preparations and precautions for making a walk or trek.

The author of this book knows so much, it seems, he can't get it all into his book.

Without having a firm foundation in early Andean culture, I found this book challenging to digest. It moves through historical terminology at a mind-warping rate. On the other hand, after "stepping back" to read more basic books on the same subject, I realize I've gotten a strong platform of knowledge from Von Hagen. I recommend you read this book only if you plan to read others on the topic, too.

The authors provide a stimulating introduction to urbanism in the Precolumbian Andes. The only problem with this book was that it left me wanting more. Since the book covers the entire history of the Ancient Andes, it cannot devote much space to any specific city or civilization. Nevertheless, there is still more than enough to enthrall. At the start of each chapter on a civilization, there is always a short description of what life would have been like for some inhabitants of a city of that civilization. This provides some extra colour to the book though some technical readers might not appreciate it. My favourite portion was on Tiwanaku, the largest city of the altiplano around Lake Titicaca. The pictures and maps were excellent and greatly enhanced to the book.

This book discusses the Inka in-depth, carefully using archaeological and historical evidence, in a way which brings them to life for the reader. The author manages to combine detail and easy reading without compromising either. In preparation to give a college lecture on the Inka, I got this book out of the library along with about 10 other scholarly texts. In the end, there was nothing in any of those other books that this book didn't cover just as thoroughly, but in a format which made it more interesting to read! This would be a terrific book for armchair archaeologists as well as students and teachers.

Muy entretenida novela histórica que te da una probadita de las costumbre de la cultura Inca. Te permite conocer su sistema político-religioso, su cultura de castas, su organización geográfica y algunas de sus costumbres, y a la vez te mantiene entretenido con una historia sobre un capitán del ejercito Inca.

Un libro corto, de sencilla lectura, muy bueno para un viaje o un fin de semana.

Wonderful and informative book. Subject matter ranges from everday life, diet, historical dress and accessories. Mythology, religious beliefs, and wonderful illustrations and photos of rare codexi. Highly recommended.

I really do not understand the two, short, negative reviews
submitted for this book. They are either ignorant ot have an
axe to grind. I have been studying and practicing energy
healing for over a decade, and read this book along with Joan
Parisi Wilcox's study of Q'ero shamans. I have read many books!
I just read "Shaman, Healer, Sage" as well, and find that the
work of this author is truly an energy wishing to work towards
greater connection and healing in the world. Rome wasn't built
in a day, and it surely must be difficult to translate 25 years
of personal experience into a format that the rather brainwashed
garden variety westerner can understand and appreciate. I
recommend these books people open to understanding other cultures
and to those wishing to learn more about the world of true healing. They are a lovely addition to my home and office
libraries.

This book is a must read for anyone seeking a greater understanding of the world, within and without. Particulary for a social scientist. This is a text book for other viewpoints, seperate from what can be found in a Noth American psychology text book about understanding our relationship to the world and our place in it.

I found this book to be extremely helpful in understanding or beginning to 'see' within the world of the shaman. The world around us is constantly providing us insights, clues, answers to our most profound questions. Yet we have learned, through rigorous training, to not be able to 'see' these very important clues. As a new student of shamanism, studying with Alberto, I heard the words offered in the workshops and I sensed the essence of the teachings through the experiential practices. But it was by reading this book that I began to renew my relationship with the earth; with intuition, with the contant feedback that is provided us from the natural world.

The book is easy to read and provided great insight into the shamanic realm. I highly recommend it.