Conquest Of The Incas [Paperback]

"'A superb work of narrative history' Antonia Fraser; 'It is a delight to praise a book of this quality which combines careful scholarship with sparkling narrative skill' Philip Magnus, Sunday Times; 'A superbly vivid history'" (The Times ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

`A superb work of narrative history` Antonia Fraser

On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of Panama and were confronted with an ocean: the Mar del Sur, or the Pacific Ocean. Six years later the Spaniards had established the town of Panama as a base from which to explore and exploit this unknown sea. It was the threshold of a vast expansion.

From the first small band of Spanish adventurers to enter the mighty Inca empire, to the execution of the last Inca forty years later, The Conquest of the Incas is a story of bloodshed, infamy, rebellion and extermination, told as convincingly as if it happened yesterday.

`It is a delight to praise a book of this quality which combines careful scholarship with sparkling narrative skill` Philip Magnus, Sunday Times

`A superbly vivid history` The Times

Winner of the Christopher Award "Distinguished by an extraordinary empathy, a feeling of one's way into the minds of the 16th-century Spaniards and Indians ... A provocative book." -The New York Times Praised as the finest account of the annihilation of the Incan empire since W.H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, this compelling, authoritative account removes the Incas from the realm of prehistory and legend and shows the reality of their struggle against the Spanish invasion. Drawing on rediscovered sources and a firsthand knowledge of the Incan terrain, Hemming vividly describes postconquest Peru and the integration of the Incas into the Spanish society, refuting many misconceptions about the decline of the Incan empire. With maps, line drawings, and 24 pages of photography John Hemming has written extensively for both popular and academic audiences about South American history. A writer, explorer, and anthropologist, he is a member of the Royal Geographic Society and has traveled extensively in all continents, crossing the Sahara and Syrian deserts and taking part in a major exploration of a previously unknown part of Brazil. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

John Hemming was Director of the Royal Geographical Society in London from 1975 to 1996. and is the author of fourteen books. On publication, The Conquest of the Incas won the Robert Pitman Literary Prize and the Christopher Medal in New York.