The Incas (Ancient Peoples and Places)

Provided a basic overview of the Inca people and their culture. The later part of the book moved towards surveys of specific Inca archaeological sites.

Awesome book, so comprehensive and gorgeous color photos

Its a good book and l'm glad l bought it at the low price.

Readable text, great illustrations. I highly recommend this work. Anyone planning to visit the Inca homeland should read this book.

The quality is pretty good.

It's difficult to think how this book could be better. Chapters 1-6 (pages 12-101) present the culture of the Incas. Chapters 7-10 (pages 102-233) present Inca archaeology by geographical region. Finally Chapter 11 (pages 234-241) presents the sad downfall of the Incas to the bloodthirsty Spaniards. At the end of this, one has the feeling of having got to know the Incas quite well, although this must surely be illusory.The defeat of the Incas reminds me to some extent of the defeat of the ancient Egyptians by the Persians, as described by Herodotus. A populous bronze-based society overcome by cruel soldiers with steel swords. In many other ways also, in the extensive carved stone architecture and the enigmatic nature of the society, and even the geographical shape of the very long and narrow north-south territory, the Incas presented in this book remind me of the ancient Egyptians.One thing which often occurred to me was that the huge amount of building work done by the Incas must surely have required a much larger population than they had. I've read elsewhere that 90% to 95% of the people died from new diseases in most of North, Central and South America when the Europeans arrived. I don't see any reason why the proportion would have been much less than that in Tawantinsuyu.Perhaps the large numbers of surviving ruins (if ruins can be said to have "survived") of monumental Inca buildings are partly attributable to the small number of centuries separating us from their destruction. This is a big difference between Inca archaeology and old-world fertile-crescent archaeology. Copernicus was writing his book when the Spaniards invaded Tawantinsuyu. So it wasn't so very long ago.Anyway, I bought this book in 2012 in a local bookshop, and now I've just finished reading it. I can't think of a better introduction to the Incas. It takes the reader half way towards being able to identify with their culture and life-style. But clearly the Inca way of thinking was a long way from the European way of thinking in the last 500 years. Therefore this book does not take away the enigma and mystery. Only half.One other thing I should mention is that there are very clear and helpful maps on pages 13, 103, 115, 134, 187 and 211. I found it very useful to have bookmarks in these pages for easy reference to understand the extensive geography in this book.

Finally after a lot of reading and mixed interpretation of the Inca along with yet another predictable recounting of the conquistador's arrival and subsequent destruction of the civilisation, I have come across Adriana Von Hagen. The Von Hagen family have a long history of exploration in, and writing about, Peru (and other pre-Colombian cultures - do a Google search!)This book reflects this dedication and sound knowledge.Von Hagen and her co-author Craig Morris encapsulate the development of the Inca, their beliefs and culture and how that impacted on daily life. In addition, the importance of roading, communication, building expertise and their interaction with other cultures is dealt with in an insightful manner. The oft recounted story of the demise of the culture is covered in the last brief chapter.It is written in a manner that makes for an easy and dare I say at times exciting read but if I was to be critical there are a few things that seem to be glossed over, making it seem a little like an academic work at times.But I love this book - and it would make a great - if somewhat expensive - TV series! I hope someone else sees this too.I would put this work up with the writings of Vincent Lee (Forgotten Vilcabamba) and Keith Muscutt  Warriors of the Clouds: A Lost Civilization in the Upper Amazon of Peru  - people who treat their readers as people of intelligence and who avoid the stories we have all come to know so well!Bravo!