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

by Edward Hyams and George Ordish

1996 Barnes Noble hardcover, {QF} 6th printing. Edward Hyams ( The Story of a Dog), George Ordish (The Living The 400-year History of an English Garden). Dramatically written, authoritative account of the Inca its rulers and their queens, its unique social structure, its cultural achievements, the special circumstances of its downfall. -Google Books

Genres: History, American, Nonfiction

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lindsay Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago, after reading Fire and Blood, I said I would read more history if it was written like George R.R. writes.

This was that book for me. It was fun to read, genuinely. The world building was fantastic. I learned so much about the Incan social structure, economic state, traditions, and culture, which is exactly what I wanted. The military history was very minimal. Ideal. And the authors did a great job of treating each historial figure as a character; they each felt very real.

I was a little nervy that this was gonna be like problematic. But, actually, I felt that this was very tasteful and well executed. Sure, they used the word “barbarian” a lot, but it felt less like an insult and more of an outdated classification of warriors of a certain style. Also, it was written in the sixties. So.

The authors clearly had a lot of respect for the Incans, and sympathy for the Peruvian people, who are still living with the negative consequences of the Spanish invasion to this day. That was important to me while reading—it made it a lot more palatable as I read this juicy tale of civil war, invasion, and betrayal.

Also, I loved the authors subversive, little ~socialist agenda. The Incans apparently had a well functioning society where there were no poor, everyone had a place and a role, and there were enough goods to go around. I had heard before that the average citizen of the Incan empire was better off than their descendants today. It was interesting to learn about how the Incans had structured their society and the cogs that kept it running.


Finally, I also saw some people comment that they felt that the authors portrayed the spanish in a bad light. I did not feel like this was the case at all. The authors were fair, with a totally appropriate dose of fuck-the-spanish. But if you don’t have a fuck-the-spanish attitude when reading about the conquering of Latin American then you need to spend some time deeply reflecting.

Totally recommend for the history girlies!

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always been curious to learn more about the Mesoamerican and south American empires. It's an area of history I have been lacking in knowledge for a long time. This was very good book to begin on one of those empires, The Incas. While sometimes dry in places and a bit slow it overall is a good read. While the focus of the book is the end of the empire and it's conquest by the Spanish it does a very thorough job of overviewing the history and culture of the Incas prior to the fall to the Spanish. Well researched and documented it explains is clear terms the society and basic culture of the Incas. Recommended

[Simon Huffman-Gottschling · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is problematic. I got bad enough that I had to stop reading it. It repeatedly idolizes the actions of the Spanish, erases any Indigenous narratives that aren't Incan, but still involved in the story, and regularly uses the words "savage" and "barbarian" to describe different Indigenous South Americans. The book goes as far as describing a massacre of 5000 by Pizarro as "This remarkable achievement of sheer hard work was modestly attributed by the Spaniards themselves to their Heavenly Father." If you're looking for an interesting read on the Inca Empire, look for another book less steeped in racism.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the Native Americans, Incas. I read it while in Peru--so it was especially pertinent. Incas did amazing things--especially their agricultural and building areas.
In Agriculture, they built tiered plant growing areas to encompass different climate zones.
In Architecture, they built fortresses, temples, etc. out of massive interlocking stones without the use of advanced tools. They were more humane in the way they treated their POWs. Incas questioned each captive on their abilities and talents, then allowed them to work in their areas of expertise. After time, these captives were interfused into Inca society with all the benefits of other citizens.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was super informative about the history of the Incas from the entrance of Pizzaro and the Spaniards to the death of Atahualpa. I enjoyed the fact that the authors described Francisco Pizarro as a great leader of his mean but not necessarily a good person. They tried to paint a picture of the explorer but didn't hesitate to put in their two cents about how they felt about his actions. It was a bit dry at times but interesting nonetheless.

[T.P. Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contained a good, concise history of the Inca rulers up to the Spanish conquest. There were some nice descriptions of daily Inca life, and an especially compelling explanation of the quipu - the system of knotted ropes - used for communications, accounts, history, which explained, for me at least, its importance to the Inca system.
However, it became readily apparent early in this book that the author had an ax to grind and stopping to learn more of him before proceeding, learned that he was an anarchist with socialist/marxist leanings. I do not doubt that the Incas practiced an early form of communism, in that money was nonexistent, everyone was expected to work, and in return, shared the fruits of that labor, and other such essential features of a society with no commercial pulse. Also admirable is the construction of their roads, but I feel the author soft pedals what was really forced labor - the Incas had compulsory service requirements - to make the temples, the forts, the monuments, the roads, etc.
The author extols all of these accomplishment and traits as proof of a society which was superior to the invading Spanish. Me, I'm not so convinced. Some of the opinions are patently absurd - the Incas did not make use of the wheel because there labor system was so efficient. Really? I think anyone would say that if there was a simple labor saving device that could be implemented, it would be employed. As for the language - Quechua - the author makes the astonishing observation that it was so rich, so nuanced, that if those nasty Spanish hadn't entered the picture, Quechua was fully able to become a world language. This inspite of the fact that it wasn't written! In fact, it wasn't written until a Spanish religious constructed a bilingual dictionary.
The author downplays the Inca practice of incest ("sister marriage") which obviously the Spanish would have found repulsive. Worse, he doubts human sacrifice occurred (always adding "if any" when discussing it. Allowing that this was written in 1963, we now know that not only did the Incas practice human sacrifice, child sacrifice was in fact quite common. How is this society superior to any other society if it promotes incest and child sacrifice?
The author's bias is laughable at times, consistently demeaning the Spanish conquistadors and the religious who accompanied them. And being English, he cannot resist the obligatory, reflexive criticism of the Catholic Church (similar to how Trevelyan's otherwise excellent biography of Garibaldi gets bogged down in mindless Catholic bashing).

[Sergio Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first history book and while I found it dry at moments it's very straightforward and covers the events it promised to go over. The author gives the reader all the context he may need to have an understanding of how the Inca were conquered and what the empire looked like at that moment in time. Dispels many myths and gets to the point, it's a must read, and as a Peruvian it helped me understand and appreciate my heritage on a deeper level.

[Davy Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the foreword and Chapter 1 in 2012.
My notes on one paragraph was "commie schlock" and on another "comrade goosescteppin.

I have read a lot about Cortez in Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, a very great book by Diaz Bernal ..
And in the mixed up ramblings of Niel Young.

Lacking as regards Pizarro tho, so will hip-wader through this one some day. My other candidate book weighs 25 pounds (Prescott).

[Trevor Witholt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed, dramatic explanation of the destruction of Inca civilization, suitable for someone with little knowledge of the sort. Well paced with thorough explanation of practices and culture of the Inca that set a great background for the demise of their empire. A hint of socialist rhetoric and now frowned upon language from the authors was present, but easy to look past given the time and context in which it was written.

[Bethany Dillon]

Loved it! Lots of interesting information about what really happened on both sides during the time of Spanish Conquest over the region.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rather torn by this book. By comparrisson to Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, this is more readable and seems to be a decent summary of what happened in Tahuantinsuyu when Pizzaro showed up. But the shortcomings, the sense that the Inca, as conquerors of other people, were better than the Spanish conquerors; maybe not as harsh are hard to believe. There isn't a whole lot of source material to base this on and I'm betting that any of the conquered people don't look at it like, boy, it sucked being conquered by the Inca but it's a lot better than the Spaniards ruling us... The authors also seem to come at their history with a socialist view of things - the collectivization of the Inca, while very regimented also provided for everyone and led to great public works (terraces, roads, etc) and isn't this great as compared to the evils of free enterprise, private property, and democracy. Not that any of the later are perfect but I don't think collectivization is too ideal either. At least not over the long haul, I would imagine. So... I'm torn. Maybe a good, quick telling of the history but an obvious bias on the authors' part that I don't buy completely.

[Diego Palomino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles the arrival of the Spaniards in Peru and the eventual subordination and colonization of the Incas. It tries to demystify the stories that the Incas believed the invaders were a second coming of Viracocha or some Kind of gods. On the contrary it clarifies that they were not fooled but clearly not ready for the culture shock and the cruelty of the Spaniards. They document how they'd had encounters with other previous conquistadors. The civil war the Incas were experiencing also contributed to their demise as well as the epidemics that developed upon the European's arrival which killed the majority of the population. Fascinating to me was the description of the socio political organization of the Incas.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume may be more than you want or need to know about the Incan empire and what the Spanish invaders did to it; but I was intrigued by the very beginning by how much we (that universal we) know about this ancient place and its people and by how well Hyams and Ordish conveyed the story. The authors do have a perspective on the Incas that is idealistic, romantic to the point of sentimental, a bit too sympathetic; and perhaps they are too hard on the Spanish. That screed completed, I found it refreshing compared with what I learned in elementary school history class (which was, I'll grant, eons ago).

[Ballpeendash · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good book, but goes into mind-numbingly boring detail that I've found to be pretty...well...boring. It's a great book if you want to know everything you could ever possibly want to know, but I felt like I got the point well before I finished..which...coincidentally, I never did.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book - highly recommend it.