The Last Days of the Incas

by Kim MacQuarrie

Documents the epic conquest of the Inca Empire as well as the decades-long insurgency waged by the Incas against the Conquistadors, in a narrative history that is partially drawn from the storytelling traditions of the Peruvian Amazon Yora people.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Native American, World History, Travel, Historical

522 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 2007

About the author

Kim MacQuarrie is an award-winning author, a documentary filmmaker, and an anthropologist. He’s won multiple national Emmy awards for documentary films made in such disparate regions as Siberia, Papua New Guinea, and Peru. MacQuarrie is the author of four books on Peru and lived in that country for five years, exploring many of its hidden regions. During that time, MacQuarrie lived with a recently-contacted tribe of indigenous Amazonians, called the Yora. It was MacQuarrie’s experience filming a nearby group of indigenous people, whose ancestors still remembered their contacts with the Inca Empire, that ultimately led him to investigate and then to write his book, "The Last Days of the Incas". The book was selected as a "notable book" by the Kiriyama Prize Committee in 2008 and as an "Outstanding Title" by CHOICE (Current Reviews for Academic Libraries). It is currently being made into a 13-part dramatic series by the FX Channel has been published in eight languages.

MacQuarrie's latest book, "Life and Death in the Andes: On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries," is due out on Dec 1, 2015 with Simon & Schuster. In his latest book, the author travels from Colombia 4,500 miles down the length of the Andes to the tip of Patagonia while investigating such disparate characters as Pablo Escobar, Che Guevara, Charles Darwin, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Thor Heyerdahl (of Kon Tiki fame), and even an Incan "Ice Maiden," sacrificed more than 500 years ago on top of a 20,000 foot volcano, but still perfectly preserved.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In a sense, New World conquest was about men seeking a way around one of life’s basic rules – that human beings have to work for a living, just like the rest of the animal world. In Peru, as elsewhere in the Americas, Spaniards were not looking for fertile land that they could farm, they were looking for the cessation of their own need to perform manual labor. To do so, they needed to find large enough groups of people they could force to carry out all the laborious tasks necessary to provide them with the essentials of life: food, shelter, clothing, and, ideally, liquid wealth. Conquest, then, had little to do with adventure, but rather had everything to do with groups of men willing to do just about anything in order to avoid working for a living. Stripped down to its barest bones, the conquest of Peru was all about finding a comfortable retirement.”
- Kim MacQuarrie, The Last Days of the Incas

Kim MacQuarrie’s The Last Days of the Incas – covering Francisco Pizzaro’s 16th century conquest of Peru – is an outstanding example of narrative nonfiction. Before starting this, I knew only the basics about this fatal clash of peoples, pitting a small group of Spaniards on one side, against a large group of indigenous South Americans on the other. Nevertheless, MacQuarrie’s accessible style made the learning curve very gentle indeed. The major players are clearly defined, it is incredibly easy to follow the flow of events (aided by a timeline), and the novelistic details (sometimes a bit too novelistic) shortened the distance to the past, making this long-ago tragedy feel close and relevant.

MacQuarrie structures The Last Days of the Incas so that it has two separate storylines, taking place in two different eras.

The first storyline – set in the 20th century – involves modern explorers rediscovering great Incan cities that had been reclaimed by the jungle. These ruins, known only to local inhabitants, included Machu Picchu, one of the most iconic archaeological sites on earth, and Vilcabamba, the capital of the last remnants of the Incan empire. The sections devoted to finding, studying, and contextualizing these landmarks serve as bookends, both starting and ending the book.

In between is a long middle section covering MacQuarrie’s main focus, the collision of two great empires.

As MacQuarrie explains, the Spaniards who arrived in Peru – initially in strikingly small numbers – were not exactly the cream of the crop. They were impoverished, oft-illiterate, and title-less men with nothing to lose and everything to gain, which made them – in the end – exceedingly dangerous. Not professional soldiers, they were instead a cross-section of working-class Spanish society. They were also not employed or funded by the king, but were instead a new type of aggressive capitalist, forming joint companies with the lone motive of exploitation.

Facing these ruthlessly ambitious strivers were the Incas, a powerful empire in their own right. The Incans were a small ethnic group who came into the Andes region in the 12th century. Over time, they expanded their control, eventually coming to rule over 10 million people. At its apogee, the Incan Empire encompassed present-day Peru, as well as parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Columbia.

The scale and accomplishments of the Incas were fantastic. They had thousands of miles of roads, monumentally-scaled architecture, and a bureaucratic system that harnessed the labor of untold thousands. Like all empires, this one was marked by a measure of coercion and brutality. The Incan rulers – an elite of around 100,000 – imposed taxes on its subjects in the form of a labor obligation. Unlike the vanguard of the Spanish Empire, however, the Incan leadership had a reciprocal obligation to its people, ensuring access to the basic necessities of life. Francisco Pizzaro, his brothers Juan, Gonzalo, and Hernando, and other Spanish conquistadors felt no such responsibility, and treated most humans as a juicer treats an orange.

The riddle of Spain in Peru has always been the question of how the advanced and numerically superior Incan Empire was toppled by just a handful of men. MacQuarrie presents many potential solutions, and all of them – taken together – probably forms the answer. For one, the Spaniards had certain technological advantages, including armor, firearms, and horses. Though MacQuarrie plays up this aspect, I am not entirely convinced that it represented the major role. Steel and horses are great, but it does not explain how 167 men defeated Emperor Atahualpa and 80,000 warriors at Cajamarca.

Perhaps more importantly, Francisco Pizzaro arrived in Peru around the time of an Incan civil war, following the death of Emperor Huyana Capac. Instead of meeting a strongly unified foe, the Incas were divided into competing factions, each supporting a different son of the dead emperor.

Beyond this was the fact that the Spaniards – despite their own self-serving accounts – had a lot of help. As already mentioned, empires rely on strong-arm tactics. Those tactics can be alienating. In defeating the Incas, Spain relied on the use of indigenous auxiliaries who were willing to make common cause with the invaders. Thus, the lopsided odds proudly touted in Spanish sources were often not quite as long as they were made out to be.

MacQuarrie’s handling of this material is excellent. He not only informs but entertains. It is no exaggeration to say that at times, I forgot I was reading about things that have been in the historical record for around 500 years. I was not only engrossed, but invested, and kept hoping that the outcome might change. It is a testament to MacQuarrie’s literary verve that I kept rooting for the Pizzaro brothers to get what they had coming (they did), and for the onetime puppet leader Manco Inca to succeed in his bold rebellion (he did not).

It must be noted, however, that in achieving some of its flair, The Last Days of the Incas utilizes more than a bit of poetic license. MacQuarrie is not a professional historian, and does not hesitate to speculate or dramatize events. There are a lot of sentences that include a variation of the phrase “no doubt” and “undoubtedly,” qualifiers that MacQuarrie uses when advancing hypotheses that have no foundation in documentary sources. This makes for a better tale, because it allows MacQuarrie to imbue certain figures – especially among the Inca – with the humanity that they have been otherwise denied. At the same time, for those who value absolute, just-the-facts fidelity, this might be problematic (though I would argue that just-the-facts fidelity is an impossible standard, as even contemporary written sources have numerous flaws).

For me, the bigger problem – though still minor – is in MacQuarrie’s decision to sandwich the central chronicle of Spaniards-versus-Incans between accounts of explorers looking for Incan ruins. While interesting, this simply doesn’t compare to the life-and-death conflict initiated by the arrival of Francisco Pizzaro in Peru. For example, the “treachery” of one explorer not properly crediting another explorer in a book tends to pale in comparison to the actual treachery of Spain executing Emperor Atahualpa. As a result, the end of The Last Days of the Incas, covering the attempts to find Vilcabamba, really dragged.

Leaving aside its anticlimactic ending and occasional theorizing, The Last Days of the Incas is superb. I do not read history simply to memorize dates or the sequence of events. I read history to connect with the people of the past, and to see things through their eyes. The past is a lost world, a world that I want to visit, if only in the imagination. In The Last Days of the Incas, MacQuarrie succeeds in taking you back in time.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

About 30 years ago I read John Hemming’s 1970 book “The Conquest of the Incas”, which is generally regarded as the classic work on the subject in the English language. I thought I would try this later book by way of comparison.

The seizure of the Inca Empire by a band of Spanish adventurers is one of the most dramatic events in history, and the story as told by MacQuarrie is very similar to that told by Hemming. MacQuarrie’s history is supremely readable though, from memory more so than Hemming’s. He can be a bit speculative in the way he ascribes motivation to individuals who lived centuries ago, but in this case it’s a minor quibble.

There are some striking similarities between the conquest of Mexico and the conquest of Peru. To begin with, both native empires seemed nonplussed by the sudden appearance of these unknown foreigners. In both cases the invaders were simply allowed to walk into the centre of the Empire and capture its leader. Then followed an immense rebellion which nearly succeeded before being crushed. One difference between the two campaigns was that the Incas managed to establish a remnant kingdom – Vilcabamba - in a small part of their former territory. It lasted for nearly 40 years before their final defeat.

Whilst MacQuarrie notes that the Spanish conquest was made easier by smallpox, civil war amongst the Inca, and the use of native auxiliaries, he focuses on the technological advantages the Spanish had in military terms. Inca warriors generally fought hand to hand with clubs. They also had a variety of missile weapons such as slingshots, javelins and darts, the latter two types having wooden points. None of these weapons could penetrate Spanish armour. Spanish soldiers might finish a battle covered in bruises and feeling a bit dazed, but that was generally the worst that would happen. The conquistadores also had cavalry whilst the Incas fought on foot. The scenario was a bit like modern infantry armed only with rifles being caught in the open by a regiment of tanks. No matter how bravely the Inca warriors fought, and no matter how many warriors they had, it was basically suicide for them to meet Spanish cavalry on an open plain. Their only successes came when they adopted ambush tactics, trapping Spanish cavalry in Andean gorges where they could roll boulders down on top of them.

Francisco Pizarro seems to have been cast from the same mould as Hernán Cortés. Both were men of unlimited cruelty, ambition and greed, as well as courage, cunning and self-confidence. I suppose it takes such people to conquer an empire. Amongst the indigenous commanders it was the leader of the rebellion, Manco Inca, who stood out - a courageous and determined young man, but one whose trusting nature was a weakness in dealing with treacherous conquistadores.

The last few chapters of the book continue the story into modern times, by telling of the rediscovery, by the wider world, of the ruined Inca cities of Vitcos, Macchu Picchu, and Vilcabamba, amongst others. The story of these rediscoveries is told in as dramatic a style as the story of the conquest itself.

[Orhan Pelinkovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

MacQuarrie wrote a compelling narrative concerning the Spanish discovery of the Inca Empire in the year 1532 and the subsequent events, battles, and political struggles that occurred between the Inca ruling family and the invading Pizarro brothers. MacQuarrie intertwines his succinct summary with other chroniclers' accounts; from the moment of the discovery to the last Incan stronghold in 1572. This interweaving provides the reader with multiple perspectives of the ever-changing events that occurred during the clash of these two cultures and a good reference to other authors if one wishes to further explore the subject.

Towards the end of the book, MacQuarrie fast-forwards to the historian and explorer Hiram Bingham 1911 fortuitous discoveries of the lost Inca city of Vitcos and the well-known Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, all while in search for the rebel Emperor's Manco Inca lost city of Vilcabamba that was later (re)discovered by Gene Savoy and Vincent Lee.

Two thoughts came to mind while reading The Last Days of the Incas (2007). The first is, how different societies, that were not aware of each other's existence, share numerous identical cultural traits and structures of a community, which can all serve as an indication of how hardwired, collective, and predictable are human behavior patterns and how deterministic societal evolution can be. The other (which the author discussed in his epilogue) is on existence and discovery, and how carelessly these words are used in similar genre of literature that unfortunately impose on the reader that, as if, a culture or civilization does not exist until and unless a person of European origin discovers it. For instance, the locals knew of Machu Picchu's existence all along, and Hiram Bingham mapped, excavated, and published his findings and did not discover this Inca citadel.

(4.5/5.0)

[David Rubenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

After traveling to Peru last spring, and visiting several of the historical, archaeological sites, I really wanted to understand the history. One of our guides, most definitely of Inca descent, became very saddened and nostalgic when discussing this topic. She was very conversant with the history of the Incas, and their achievements. But there is only so much one can absorb in the course of several days of touring. So, this book fills the void for me. The book describes the conquest of the Incas by the Spanish conquistadors. It also covers the twentieth century explorations and discoveries of some of the most remarkable archaeological sites.

What strikes me the most, is the personalities of the Spaniards. The invasions were led primarily by Francisco Pizarro. He and his brothers were greedy, barbaric, and deceitful. Their greed for gold and other riches was unbounded. He would go to any lengths to acquire fortunes. The Spaniards were so greedy, that they even had battles amongst themselves! Hundreds of Spaniards fought against each other in a major battle, under the gladdened eyes of the Incas.

By today's standards, the Incas were also violent. But they were thoroughly out-matched by the technology of the Spaniards; the Spaniards had horses, metal armor and metal swords, which the Incas lacked. The Spaniards knew how to take advantage of their technological superiority. The Inca armies out-numbered the Spaniards by hundreds-to-one. The Spaniards numbered a few hundred, and they conquered an empire that had armies in the many tens of thousands! The Spaniards were very valiant, indeed.

I am just amazed how much of the history was documented. After all, most of the Spaniards were illiterate, and the recorded history was written so very far from Spain. The author, Kim MacQuarrie, has managed to put together a very detailed timeline, with what must have been a huge research project. The writing is very clear, and at the same time the book is engaging, almost an adventure story. The author does not pass judgment on either the Spaniards or the Incas. He tells the history in a straight-forward manner, and allows the reader to form his own opinions about the historical figures.

I listened to this book as an audiobook, narrated by Norman Dietz. Despite there being no dialog in the book, he helped make the story clear and kept my attention throughout.

[Coralia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Peruvian I feel really sorry for what happened at that time. It looks that I am a kind of witness when reading this book...Thank you Mr. MacQuarrie. I can picture each scene. Also, the books makes me reflect of how the Inca empire was affected deeply by this gang, I believe it was because the empire was divided in many ways for power. Spaniards were lucky finding a place like this. Racism, killing, stealing, lying were their heritage left, among others. Three centuries later, it is interesting to see how the ambition of fame came with the explorer Gene Savoy who betrayed Vincent Lee's recent discovering of Vilcabamba ruins, an architect who shared with him all what he found in the lost Inca City. Again, power, ambition, bitterness now related to the history of the Inca Empire ::: It would be great if the book is translated in Spanish so, many of my countrymen would be able to learn more about our culture, our ancestors.

[Jason Golomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Days of the Incas is a terrifically readable history of the Spanish conquest of the Incas and Peru. Whereas John Hemming's Conquest of the Incas is the definitive modern history, MacQuarrie brings to bear a more narrative and engaging approach.

Last Days is historically thorough, but MacQuarrie writes many of the incidents of the conquest in a more fictional style. Often scenes are are qualified with comments like "Undoubtedly, Pizarro felt such-and-such," or "No doubt Manco looked out over the valley, etc." Once one accepts the speculative commentary for what it is, it shouldn't be bothersome, and is more than made up for by the narrative flow.

The story of the conquest is well-known: Pizarro & co. swoop into Peru with only a handful of fully armed conquistadors looking for fame and fortune. This small band (aided unknowingly by a smallpox plague ravaging North, Central and South America) kidnap and kill their way to riches and domination. The Incas are able to consolidate their many tribes, but the rebellions all flame out.

Ultimately, the Spanish prevail despite their own internecine battles that ends in the death of Francisco Pizarro by Spanish hands.

John Hemming is for the hardest core academic reading of the Incan conquest. MacQuarrie is faster and more fiction-like read. Both are highly recommended.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well-researched, very well-written history book about a period and culture I knew very little about: the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in South America. Though I would not go so far as to say it read like a novel, certain parts did, especially when the author was creating a “hook” to introduce the next series of events. I understand he’s an Emmy award-winning documentarian, so he knows how to tell a story.

If the author ever decides to adapt this book into film, the protagonist will be Manco Inca. He was just a teenager when Francisco Pizarro and his crew arrived in what is now Peru, and after treacherous dealings that ended in the execution of Manco’s older brother, the ruling emperor, the Spaniards appointed Manco successor, thinking he would make a good puppet. But their treachery continued and when Pizarro’s youngest brother made a demand that went way too far, Manco Inca turned into a real ruler of his people, leading an all-out rebellion.

The Incas’ war against the Spaniards and the in-fighting on both sides makes up the bulk of this book, but it’s sandwiched in between the first and last chapters about the 20th century explorers and historians who discovered the Incan ruins. Their story is not as brutal or violent, but there’s plenty of underhandedness in it. After all, what was at stake for them was pretty much the same thing as what the conquistadors were after: glory and fortune.

This is not a book that will renew your faith in humanity. The conquistadors were absolutely hateful, but the Incas weren’t “noble savages” either. They were imperialists, too, having conquered much of the South American continent before the Spanish arrived. And though the Incan emperors did not let their peasants starve, it was still a feudalistic society where the peasants had to pay tribute and provide free labor. Ironically, Pizarro himself had been a peasant in Spain. He left Europe to seek his fortune because he had nothing to lose.

One of the early chapters of the book quotes Thucydides as saying, “Conquer or be conquered.” What I got out of this book is the converse: all conquerors end up conquered themselves. Nobody stays on top forever, and if you become too arrogant while on top, you end up inviting the rebellion that will ultimately lead to your downfall.

[Ctgt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a fair amount of history but the ancient peoples of Central and South America are some of my blindspots. This may not have been the best place to start since the book, obviously, deals with the end of the Incas but I did learn quite a few facts that have piqued my interest in what led up to their demise as an empire.

Seems the Incas were actually conquerors themselves and made up a very small minority of the actual population. They had defeated all the surrounding tribes and were considered the elite of the empire.
There was a battle for succession raging in the Incan empire just as the Spaniards arrived(talk about bad timing).
The Spaniards were led by Fransisco Pizzaro who hailed from an impoverished, rural, backward area of Western Spain called Extremadura. Interesting fact about the area, many of the great conquistadors came from this area, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, De Soto and Cortes all came from this same general location. Signing on to, or organizing an expedition was one of the few ways to rise above your station and break free from the poverty.
One of the most shocking aspects was the fact that the Spaniards were able to bring down the empire with such a small number of men, 168 at the very beginning. They had technological advantages, cannon, harquebus(a smoothbore gun), armor and horses(which the Inca had never seen before) but one would have assumed the sheer numbers of Inca, several million(no true record of actual numbers) would have been able to overcome the badly outnumbered invaders. I guess between the awe inspiring technology and the just concluded civil war the Inca were put in an situation they just could not overcome.

At times fascinating and sickening this was a very readable history, although in hindsight probably not the best place to start.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating, epic (22 hours on audio) history of the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors into the Andes in the early 16th century. It's chilling to learn details of the "conquest" of the Incan empire. The Spaniards, led by the 5 Pizarro brothers, initially came in minuscule numbers, and were often outnumbered in their battles by factors of 10,000 to 1 or more. But they slaughtered the natives with impunity, rarely suffering casualties. They had horses, armor, and steel - innovations that made them almost impervious to the primitive weapons of the Incans.

The ostensive motivation of the conquerors was to convert the "pagans" to Christianity. But as the author describes slaughter, dismemberment, executions, rape, torture, and other atrocities, there's not much Christianity apparent. The incredible greed for gold and silver is much more obvious (the plundering and melting down of almost every one of the precious cultural artifacts of a proud and ancient people is shameful), along with the lust for power and possessions. The utter arrogance of a supposedly "civilized" nation presuming to overrun and destroy the "pagans" in the name of Christ dumbfounds me. And it's even more pronounced because they didn't just destroy the people, they destroyed the entire culture.

I was enthralled by this book. If I had read it during my college days, I might have ended up as an archaeology or sociology major after all. Now, it just leaves me with an incredible desire to go explore the Andes!

Warning: the last few hours of the book are given to ruminations of the 20th-century archaeological analysis of the ruins of the civilizations, and may not be as interesting to some.

[Chrisl · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading a library copy, bought copies both for myself and gifts to others.

[Alex Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books covering Pizarro’s conquest of the Aztecs that I’ve read so far.

I’ve had a peculiar fascination with the Portuguese and Spanish conquistadors but there has always been a sort of conceptual buffer, the uncomfortable feeling of “just not getting it,” a fundamental not-understanding of the mysterious mechanics of how the events that transpired actually occurred.

MacQuerrie’s brilliantly researched work, along with his relentlessly stripped-down style, his ability to bring it in “up close and personal” resolved, at least in my own case, these issues. The penny dropped, something finally clicked.

Sure, the thing has some flaws in it, but I’ve never read a work of history that didn’t.

There are really two books here, by far the strongest one being the compelling retelling of the conquest of Peru itself, with the minimum amount of bias , either in the Western Eurocentric direction or towards the Indigenous population.

The other book, the other story sandwiches the main story in between it like bookends. It touches on the several 20th C. explorers involved in bringing the relevant archeology to light: Hiram Bingham, Gene Savoy and Vincent Lee who were responsible for developing its geological manifestations and discovering the fundamental historical milestones underlying the present understanding of the Aztec culture. This story could easily be a separate book, in fact, deserves to be. This other story is very interesting, but perhaps not essential to the main storyline. In my opinion only offers distraction from it.

A fascinating, horrifying, revealing, compelling and unsettling piece of work which carries the potential to generate a commentary about as long as the book. So, I’ll stop here.

My suggestion is, read the book. Even if you only have a passing interest in the subject, you’ll find it a goldmine of insight into naked human nature, bleak and abominable as it may be.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is INCREDIBLE. Comprehensively and thoroughly well researched, the level of detail sinks the reader directly into the dramatic action from 450 years ago, full of intrigue, politics, betrayal, heartbreak.

This is both an incredible work of research and a remarkable story, written in a similarly captivating style to Devil in the White City and telling a story too often ignored by the world about the Incan empire and the bitter battle with the Spanish conquistadors. The book paints as unobjective a truth as possible, revealing the flaws of the Inca ruling elite and the brutality on both sides. It truly captures this engaging history.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read. I grew up hearing all kinds of things about Cortes conquering the Mexica (or Aztecs). The stories of Tenochtitlan and the fighting on its causeways were amazing. But I really knew very little about Pizzaro and the Inca.

If the Mexica were basically a loose conglomeration of city-states, the Inca were a world-class empire stretching for over a thousand miles down the Andes and even over the mountains into the rainforest. As pure story, the Spanish saga with the Inca makes that of the Mexica pale in comparison. So Cortes kidnapped Montezuma and held him hostage and other than maybe one butt-kicking, basically had his way with the Mexica. Pizzaro led off with Cortes' kidnapping method, but the similarities end there. The Inca went all-out-guerilla on the Spanish as led by a succession of brave and determined emperors. (The Inca finally refined a very successful method of ambushing Spanish armored convoys caught in deep defiles by way of large, gravity-operated boulders). A seemingly infinite succession of Pizzaro brothers and Inca emperors going toe-to-toe made for a thrilling read. And then the story got even more interesting when civil war erupted as Spanish factions fought for control of what was left! Simply insane. Greed and lust for power aplenty. I also really liked how the author spent a good bit of time dealing with the "rediscovery" of many of the ancient Inca sites through the stories of Hiram Bingham, Victor von Hagen, Gene Savoy, and Vincent Lee. Equally insane in its own right.

[Yibbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was listening to it as an audio book, and I got really fed up with all the made up parts. There just so many sentences and paragraphed prefaced with: no doubt, perhaps, probably, doubtless, without a doubt. Those were mostly inserted thoughts about dialogue, intentions, motivations and emotions, but also actions. I prefer history books to show me what is known, and not what the author speculates about.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

RTC!

[Josh Friedlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

To say that the Spanish are the blackest of heart, the most wicked and most cruel among all the peoples of the earth - an idea so common it is a trope in Spanish historiography - is not to say something new. Should one start with the famously spine-chilling tortures of the Inquisition, or the brutal and senseless destruction of the civilisations of the New World? The torture of senseless beasts that passes for the country's national sport to this day? Or perhaps the persistence of fascism - in defiance of the most elementary lessons of history - into the 1970s? Certainly there is no paucity of evidence, yet another trove can be found in Kim MacQuarrie's carefully researched narrative history of the fall of the Incas.

In itself, the desire of the conquistadors to seize the territory and possessions of others is simply a part of history. The Incas - an empire just ninety years old at first contact with Pizarro in 1529 - had similarly established their power by force . (A famous line from Thucydides at the beginning of Chapter Four could serve as the book's epigraph: "You know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must".) But the conduct of the conquistadors was anomalous in its use of deceit (taking advantage of the original friendliness of natives encountering an entirely new civilisation; making and breaking promises constantly in order to gain advantage), its gratuitous cruelty and humiliation of its victims; and its endless extractive avarice, for the purpose of personal enrichment and far in excess of anything the conquerors could ever have spent - take the ransom of Atahualpa, who was forced to fill up a house with gold up to a line drawn on the wall in order to be freed, leading to an empire-wide effort to pay the sum (melting down in the process endless amounts of artwork and religious items). It is superfluous to say that the deal was not kept. Cortés and Pisarro may have been mere thugs, the dregs of Spanish society (from its most neglected region of Extremadura), and Cortés' mission was actually illegal. But they went in fulfilment of a doctrine endorsed by their Church - busily inventing new forms of torture in their homeland - and promulgated by Alexander VI (a Spaniard of the notorious Borgia family who had bribed his way into the papacy), which stated that

the Spanish crown [was] granted all lands 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. All undiscovered lands to the east of this longitudinal line would go to Portugal....The inhabitants of these new lands, according to the proclamation, were already subjects of the Spanish king - all that remained was that they be located and informed of this fact.

About half of MacQuarrie's book tells the story of Pizarro's invasion and destruction of the Incas. The reasons for the victory of such a small force without much technological advantage against a large empire have been discussed at length; briefly they seem to be disease, deception - kidnapping the emperor and using him as a bargaining chip - and the enormous advantage of horse and harquebus over infantry. Native alliances, unlike in the case of Cortés, seem not to have mattered much. The Inca general Quizo Yupanqui hit upon the strategy of trapping the Spaniards in narrow passes and throwing boulders down on them, but was still unable to defeat them in open battle, and thus the Incas fled to the small enclave of Vilcabamba. The conquistadors, in their implacable lust to obliterate the region's aboriginal culture, chased them down and eventually killed the last emperor, Túpac Amaru (fun fact: namesake of the rapper Tupac Shakur), who gave a pretty astonishing speech before his execution:

Lords, you are [gathered] here from all the four suyus. Let it be known that I am a Christian and they have baptized me and I wish to die under the law of God—and I have to die. And that everything that my ancestors the Incas and I have told you up till now—that you should worship the sun god, Punchao, and the shrines, idols, stones, rivers, mountains, and sacred things—is a lie and completely false. When we used to tell you that we were entering [a temple] to speak to the sun, and that it told you to do what we said and that it spoke—this...[was] a lie. Because it did not speak rather we did, for it is an object of gold and cannot speak. And my brother Titu Cusi told me that whenever I wished to tell the Indians [to do] something, that I should enter alone into the [sun temple of] Punchao and that no one was to enter with me...and that afterwards I should come out and tell the Indians that it had spoken to me, and that it had said whatever I wanted to tell them, because the Indians perform better what they have been commanded to do and...[they better obey what] they venerate—and [the god they most venerated] was the [sun god].

Has any religion in human history ever been so comprehensively denounced by its central figure? Still, this speech might have been dictated by the local Catholic priests.

The second part of the story is a quite charming tale of amateur archaeology. Hiram Bingham, a cheerful and adventurous professor of modern Latin American history at Yale with no archaeological knowledge whatsoever, was roped into exploring the region by a Peruvian government eager to promote historical tourism, and stumbled on Machu Picchu (although MacQuarrie notes that several explorers, both European and local, had actually beaten him to it). Bingham became famous for the discovery, and came up with a theory that it was the lost city of the Incas, and residence of the Virgins of the Sun, all quite wrong. (It is now believed to have been a holiday home for Pachacuti Inca, the empire's founder.) The actual lost city - Vilcabamba - was discovered in 1964 by Gene Savoy, another amateur who abandoned archaeology, moved to Reno, Nevada, and started a New Age cult.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This topic represents another in a long list of things I know virtually nothing about. I am generally skeptical of historical books that describe long-ago events with the level of detail that is provided here. It simply strains credibility, in my view, to re-create conversations that took place in the Andean mountains centuries ago, especially when the records from the time are virtually non-existent. The author seems particularly in tune with this skepticism, as he qualifies his writing several times with a "probably" here and a "likely" there. This is a little jarring in terms of the flow of the narrative, but in the end lends a greater feel of authenticity, at least to my way of thinking.

I really enjoyed the first 80% of this book, which covers the time from Pizarro's landing on the northwest coast of South America to the death of Manco Inca. Most strking to me was the military ineptitude of the Incas. The Spaniards were able to handle and easily defeat hundreds of thousands enemy combatants, and control millions of inhabitants, with a few hundred men. The author gives almost excusive credit for this accomplishment to the Spanish horses, and to a lesser extent, thier armor. Over and over, the badly outnumbered Spaniards clashed with the Incas, and repeatedly slaughtered them without losing any soldiers in the process. It was frustrating that the Incas never seemed to develop any learning or strategy to deal with the Spaniards' horses and cavalry. You'd think they would have at least figured out that they could tie a string between two trees and trip them up as they rode.

The last part of the book deals with Bingham's expedition and his ultimate discovery of some of the Inca ruins. Not nearly as interesting as the history of the conquest.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

MacQuarrie's work explores the history of the Inca empire from the 16th century arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, to the re-discovery of the ruined cities in the 20th century. I found it near impossible to put the book down once Atahualpa had been captured. But, not only was the story engrossing, but the events of the Spanish conquest were so terrible that they fill your dreams with imaginings of "what-if" longings for a better world.

By the time the book winds down, you find yourself enjoying the deaths and assassinations of the conquistadors, glad to see their family wiped from the Earth. Wow! Such strong emotions. Yes. This book was extremely well written and filled with historical details of not only the conquest, but of the modern-day explorers who dug these ruined cities from the jungles of Peru.

I highly recommend this book, which I read in the Kindle form, with Audible narration enabled to the text. The Kindle format includes many good illustrations.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very readable account of the conquest of the Incas by Francisco Pizarro and 167 of his conquistador buddies. That number shocked me. The Inca emperor Atahualpa had thousands of warriors at his command, and Pizarro and his steel-armored, horse-mounted men rode all over them. That's just so incredibly wrong I have trouble grasping it.

MacQuarrie does a great job of interweaving contemporary accounts with modern scholarship and brings the various individuals involved to life. What struck me most was how there really were no good guys in this fight. To the modern mind, Pizarro had no business imposing European rule on another empire, and that makes the Incas seem sympathetic (particularly keeping that first number in mind). But the Incas were just coming out of a nasty civil war, and they were no kinder to each other (or to the Spaniards they captured) than the Spanish were to them. This is probably not the nicest wish, but I'd love to see an alternate history in which the Incas had military technology to take on the Spanish. Though Atahualpa came to power because his predecessor apparently died of smallpox brought by the Europeans, Peru remained remarkably free of that disease, and had they been properly armed--or had the Europeans not had horses--that conflict would have gone very differently.

My one complaint about the book is that MacQuarrie, in his quest to make the story come alive, frequently makes informed guesses about things no one could know, using phrases like "certainly the Pizarro brothers would have embraced after being separated for years." I got really tired of the words "no doubt," his favorite way to spice things up.

Overall, it was both an enjoyable read and exactly what I needed for my new Extraordinaries book, so I call it a win.

[Michael Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Incas are not an ancient civilization, but a relatively recent empire as a result of continued conquest from an initially small kingdom. Once in power, they formed a reasonably stable society where through central taxation, the empire is able to guarantee adequate food, water, and shelter in the event of localized disasters -- a feat no other Peruvian government has attained since (according to the author). However, the empire is not strong enough to withstand some external shocks in the form of Spanish conquistadors and the germs they carried with them.

Back in the 16th century, fueled by greed from the kings and the zeal of the Pope, conquistadors will conquer the land in the name of God and the King. Pizarro, an illiterate, illegitimate son from a poor region of Spain wanted so much to copy the example of Cortez who subjugated an entire empire and got immensely rich as a result. From Central America, Pizarro took his men south as that is the only direction yet to be explored. They found natives. Check. Back then, they are required by the king to read requerimiento to the new subjects (police to criminal style) subjecting them to the King and Pope. If they natives won't obey (never mind if they don't understand Spanish), then violence can be used in the name of God. And read they did. Check. Atahualpa, the Inca emperor was curious about the book from which the friar who came with read the requerimiento. But the empire has no books so he doesn't know how to open one. When the friar tried to help him, the arrogant emperor struck the friar's arm. This triggered the command to release the ambushing conquistadors. By kidnapping the emperor, and the use of firearms (however primitive) and horses, the 156 Spaniards managed to subjugate the empire with thousands of soldiers around them, and 10 million plus population. Emperor Atahualpa tried to gather gold from all over his domain as he realizes the visitor has an intense attraction to the shiny metal, and maybe he could ransom himself. Alas it was not to be. When the rumor (which turns out untrue) that an army is secretly coming to free the emperor, the Spaniards decided to execute him. Incidentally, he is not the first Inca emperor to die due to the Spaniards. His father dies of small pox carried by the Spaniards before they managed to find Inca.

To keep the population under control and keep the gold coming, Pizarro found Manco, a young brother of the late Emperor and set him up as a puppet. He would eventually realize the true nature of these conquistadors after much humiliation. Then he retreated to Vilcabamba (meaning sacred plain -- remember that name) and made his generals lead insurgencies in the mountainous areas where Spanish calvary is unwieldy. For the first time since their initial invasion, Pizarro is in danger. BTW, Pizarro also kill Manco's queen after much torturing and humiliation when Manco tricked him and killed his envoy. Pizarro asked for help from fellow conquistadors throughout the region, including Almagro who arrived in Inca not long after Pizarro. But his men didn't get a cut of the profit as Pizarro's did. The resentment is palpable and these Spaniards started to fight each other. Almagro would capture Pizarro's brother Hernando and later be executed by Hernando, who would be spending 23 years in Spanish prison for the illegal execution. Pizarro didn't fare any better. He was assassinated by Almagro's disenfranchised people. After the in-flighting, some spaniards ran to Manco's side to survive. These people got on good terms with the emperor-in-exile and figured that they could use that to assassinate him and perhaps use that to get back on good terms with the new Governor sent by the Spanish King. (Witness the exemplary moral probity of these conquistadors.) While Manco was killed, the conniving spaniards got caught by natives and were killed themselves.

Fast-forward to the later part of the century. In 1572, the Spaniard decided to launch a final attack on Vilcabamba to finish off the royalty. They captured and executed Tupac Amuru, the last Inca Emperor. They also moved people from the exile capital for better control. Vilcabamba gradually fell into ruin and was swallowed up by the jungle.

Some 300 years later, Hiram Bingham found some remarkable ruins in what locals call the old peak (Machu Picchu). Could this be the ancient capital of the last Inca emperors? Or is it this other place he found with some ruins (much less grandeur but geographically agree more with descriptions of Spanish conquistadors)? Bingham got very famous and his name carries weight. He declares Machu Picchu to be the old Vilcabamba. Decades later, another explorer revisited the site Bingham visited and realized it was much larger than Bingham thought as much of the ruin was simple hidden in the jungle. It is now understood that this larger site of ruins was the city Vilcabamba. Today it is understood that Machu Picchu was built as a retreat for the first Inca emperor and great-grandfather of Manco Inca.

In preparation for my field trip to Peru, I searched up books to read and this is among the most recommended. And indeed it was well-written and very useful for my purpose. Perhaps because of the twists and turns of the historical event, the 500 pages do not feel stretched. There are lots of names hard to remember, but there is a chronology at the beginning that helps.

[Chase McCool · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read. If you love history, I would highly recommend this book.

[Xavier Patiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the longest, my knowledge of the Inca and their fall was nil. I knew of the name Francisco Pizarro and of the famous Machu Picchu, but anything more was murky at best. For the last two years or so I have been reading about the Spanish conquests of the Americas in order to understand my own lineage (60% Spanish/Portuguese with sprinklings of Native American, European and African descent). I thought MacQuarrie’s work would do nicely.

I found this book to be the perfect primer for Incan history, and it’s thematically broken up sections taught me much. MacQuarrie begins the book with a biography of Hiram Bingham, the American explorer who “discovered” Machu Picchu and other sites in Peru. (My reasoning for putting quotations around ‘discovered’ is because evidence has since come out that others knew of Machu Picchu – other explorers had come upon the site but hadn’t realized its extent, and locals too were aware of its location. In Bingham’s book about his findings, he obscured the fact that he had help from many sources about the area of Machu Picchu. He can be credited however for thrusting the site into the international spotlight).

The middle of the book is the essence of the book’s title, and here we are treated with the amazing account of Francisco Pizarro and his retinue of power-hungry conquistadores to South America, in search of riches and conquest. Here we are given a glimpse into the life of the man, of his humble beginnings in Spain and of his desire to become someone of consequence. Sixteenth century Spain was extremely hierarchical, so young men lusted after the prospect of becoming an adelantado, a man granted honors and titles of prestige. In juxtaposition we meet Atahualpa, the last Incan Emperor who ruled the lands at the time of Pizarro’s arrival. Incan society was also hierarchical, and in a lot of ways like Europe. One difference I found striking was that whenever an emperor was close to death, his eldest son didn’t automatically inherit the throne; the emperor’s other sons were encouraged to murder their fraternal rivals in order to win the seat! Brutal indeed.

I listened in awe as these two grand figures met, a smashing of two hemispheres separated by the magnificent Atlantic. Both cultures stood awestruck – the Inca never having seen horses or bearded white men bearing iron weapons and bedizened in glistening armor; the Spanish at the sheer scale of the enormous stone structures finely and expertly carved to fit like puzzle pieces, forming great and extensive walls, the scene enveloped by the misty mountains of the Andes.

As is on par with all human history, war eventually broke out between the two, sword versus club, harquebuses versus arrows, European war tactics versus guerilla warfare. Many battles and skirmishes ensued, which lasted about forty years, until the Spanish eradicated the final vestiges of the Inca. The last section of the book returns to Hiram Bingham and the other explorers that came after him, further revealing many structures that the tentacle-like vines and towering trees of the Amazon had swallowed.

A fantastic journey this was. I plan to read a lot more about the Inca and their culture. I found it all fascinating, but I couldn’t help but find it tragic as well. Consider what humanity lost in these conquests – Inca mythology, philosophy, religion, architectural, astronomical, medicinal and perhaps scientific knowledge. Quite a shame really. If only Europe sent anthropologists instead of soldiers, what could humankind have gained?

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. As the title indicates, this book tells the story of Pizarro's arrival in Peru and the Incas' initial acceptance of and then war against the conquistadors. With good reason the book is sympathetic to the Inca people; normally I really love and admire Spanish colonial architecture, but now that I know about how horribly the Spanish treated the native people, I'm going to have a much harder time appreciating the colonial sites when I go to Peru.

This was an engaging read that has given me some great background knowledge in preparation for my trip to Peru. However, it's not great history. The author often writes "Manco Inca no doubt thought..." or "Pizarro must have felt..." He fleshes out the story by attributing thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. to the central characters, and we have no way of knowing whether or not what the author has written is actually true.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical fiction is not my usual cup of tea, but I read this to prepare myself for our upcoming trip to Machu Picchu. I really liked it, much to my surprise. The beginning and the end were a bit slow, as the author seemed interested in disecting the motives and methods of the explorers who discovered Machu Picchu and other Inca sites. (who cares?? I'm not a historian or an archeologist, so I didn't) But in the middle, where the Inca story and the Spanish conquest story were recreated, I was totally fascinated! If you read it, feel free to skip the front and back and go for the gold in the center.

[Blake Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

very well researched, told with enthusiasm and clarity. surprising and important portray of how brutal the spanish were and how similar the two empires were. a few facts that may surprise: the inca empire was only 90 years old when the Spanish arrived, the original conquest was conducted by a small 'private corporation' of conquistadors given license by the Spanish monarchy to practice piracy and terrorism upon indigenous populations, and many others. my only complaint was the repetitive style, which made the book feel longer than it should have been. this reservation aside, a wonderful book that his highly, highly recommended!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for anybody planning a trip to Peru, especially those who will make the journey to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. This history book tells the story of both the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire, as well as the history of the archaeological rediscovery of the ruins of that empire. An easy to read history, that reads more like a novel, it is full of adventure and information. A fascinating story, and one that is extremely well told.

[Nikhil Krishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never trust a Conquistador.

That's perhaps the most poignant lesson one can take home after reading this book. Reading about yet another great American civilisation being torn to shreds and annexed by the Spanish leaves an empty feeling in your chest. One reason this book deserves props for is that it humanises the characters of the story and allows the readers to be more open minded - the taciturn Francisco Pizarro feeling guilty and not just a coldhearted monster and Athahulapa being a cunning emperor and not just a gawking fool.

That being said, the author's repetitive use of the word "undoubtedly" is irritating, and her speculations lose their lustre after a few chapters. Bingham's expedition was not of much interest either to a person focussed more on history than archaeology. And finally, she insists on using runasimi to refer to Quechua for the majority of the book without clarifying that they're the same.

The Last Days of the Incas lives up to its name, and that cannot be denied. The battles between the Incas and the Spanish as well as between themselves bear much weight, both to cultures meeting each other and the inevitable conflicts that follow.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

At least 4.5 stars. A very well written tale about the final years of the Inca Empire, arrival of Spanish Conquistadores in Peru, their contact with and conquest of the Incas. He also reviews the archeological rediscovery of Incan cities, temples, and other artifacts by Hiram Bingham and others. He provides a lot of insight into key characters both during the contact events in the sixteenth century and the explorers of the twentieth century. Author Kim MacQuarrie seems to have done extensive and excellent research, using a great deal of primary resources.
This was a very enjoyable read and I recommend to anyone curious about the history of South America.

[Tom Ricketts · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few history books I’ve delved into after my degree and a very pleasant reading experience. At times slow and at times fascinating the book was enhanced by me travelling the sites as I read which brought the Incan sites to life. A book I wouldn’t have read any other time but provides an overview of the Machiavellian world of the Spanish conquest of South America and was brought to life by my travels.

P.S. It’s still worth noting I have no idea how 200,000 Incas were stopped by only a few hundred Spanish soldiers and can’t believe conquistadors (1:2000) have a better ratio than a gorilla (1:100).

[Evan Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

MacQuarrie gives a detailed history of how the Spanish conquistadors conquered the vast Inca empire. The book is very detailed in its gruesome accounts that took place when these two forces collided. What shocked me most was the Spaniard’s unending greed for gold and titles, and the actions they committed to achieve such things.