The Last Days of the Incas: A Historical Exploration of the Fall of the Ancient Empire by Kim MacQuarrie

Jon: Detailed history of the fall of the Incas to the Spanish in the 16th century. Highly readable, and gives a real insight into the personalities of the main protagonists, both Inca and Spanish. Narrative history as it's best.

United Kingdom on Nov 27, 2022

Mr. Roger Skyrme: Although based on true events the book is so well written and researched that it read like a novel .A job to put down.

United Kingdom on Nov 06, 2022

markr: One of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The writing is so good that you almost forget that you are reading history and that the ending won't change, no matter how much you want the Inca insurrection against the Spanish invaders/occupiers to succeed. I learned so much about the Inca civilisation from reading this book, and also came to understand how a few well armed conquistadors, bent to the point of obsession on looting gold, and peddling their religion to justify their thieving, raping and pillaging, were able to overcome a vastly larger and well ordered society. I had no idea until i read this book of the bravery and determination of the Inca resistance, nor indeed of the barbarity of their conquerors.

Concluding with a good overview of more recent events including the discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911, and of the rainforest city of Vilcabamba in the 1960s, this is essential reading for anyone hoping to visit Peru, or who has an interest in the history of South America and/or Spain.

Highly recommended history writing at its finest

United Kingdom on Jun 25, 2018

Amazon Customer: Very informative and fast paced account of the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire - tragic for the Inca civilisation, and testament only to the unstoppable greed of the conquering nation who plundered an incredibly well organised civilisation, that ensured the common people did not go hungry and the Nation prospered - of course the Elite prospered more! That so few of them overcame the huge Inca armies is surprising, and seems to have been due their mighty horses and superior steel armour and weapons making it hard for the Incas to subdue their attackers. The sheer brutality and greed of the Spanish conquistadors who had left insignificant lives in their home country to make a new life and find wealth is staggering and not a laudable characteristic. Nowhere can i see evidence of any generosity or compassion or cooperation on the part of the Spanish, just overwhelming lust for gold and mistreatment of the native people.

United Kingdom on May 06, 2016

Jeanette: I don't normally like history books. But this is a huge exception. I loved this book! I couldn't put it down!
I've visited Ecuador and Peru and I feel terrible now that I didn't appreciate the sites that I saw. I wish I'd read this book before I went. Now, I want to go back and walk in the steps of the Inca rulers and Spanish invaders. I want to see every battleground and hold with the book open in my hands as I travel from site to site.
Apart from bringing these historical characters to life, MacQuarrie also brings the story to modern day. The epilogue was useful to relating the old place names to the villages and sites we'd find on a modern map.

Canada on Apr 04, 2016

doc peterson: The Spanish proverb, "He who has more, wants more" could not be more apt for the Spanish conquest and occupation of South America, especially regarding their usurpation of the Incas. MacQuarrie does a truly outstanding job of describing the decades-long struggle for control of western South America, the only significant drawback being his inclusion of the modern archaeloglical competition (and conflict) over the discovery of "lost" Incan ruins.

It is a compelling story. Francisco Pizarro arrived in South America with a mere handful of men (168 soldiers, 62 on horseback), "seeking a way around one of life's basic rules ... In Peru, as elsewhere in the Americas, Spaniards were not looking for fertile land that they could farm, they were looking for the cessatin of their own need to perform manual labor." In this respect, Pizarro and his men became successful beyond their wildest imaginings. This is not to suggest that the Incas easily gave up and went gently into that good night - far from it. For fourty years the Inca tenaciously and heroically fought back before eventually capitulating. MacQuarrie is not a historian, yet he has meticulously researched and cited his sources...

United States on Aug 10, 2012

Gary Tattan: This is an excellent book. A fast and detailed narrative, an exhilarating read till the last page. I have to agree with one reviewer, I was also willing the Inca rebellion on to victory while knowing the grim fate that awaited them. The description of the battle scenes is like something out of the movie Braveheart. The Conquistadors treatment of the native people was nothing short of appalling. They desecrated their sacred relics, stole their ornate gold and silver artifacts only to melt then down into metal slabs, they claimed their land and even their women and then to top it all off killed them in the name of their Christian God.

Life was different in the fifteenth century, Pizzarro needed a mandate from the queen of Spain to conquer Peru, once secured this was a license to rob, plunder and pillage. It's strange how men seemingly without scruples wouldn't advance an inch in a foreign country thousands of miles from their homeland without the royal decree. The European invaders in my opinion were in a close second behind the Nazis as far as human brutality is concerned.

The author delivers the story with passion and zeal that leaves you hoping throughout the story...

United States on Nov 29, 2008