Incas: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Inca Empire and Civilization

It is a challenge to write history on such an ancient culture. What is true and what is myth. But their history is important to understand the people. Too bad so much has been lost over time. Although more facts may reveal themselves at any time.

- Quote: <i> During the installation of an emperor, some 200 children aged 4 to 10 were sacrificed, adorned with golden jewelled items, sea shells and statues. The death of a ruler also saw the ritual of human sacrifice, including children, although the number of exactly how many were executed is unclear. The Incas saw children as the purest human beings that gave them a special sacrificial status, and the ones chosen for sacrifice had to be particularly physically healthy. </i>- Thoughts: A great deal of information about a lost empire, bringing some light to history and bridging myths and reality.A recommended reading for people that enjoy learningUnfortunately the author tried to pull a little myth of his own heavily underestimating the effect of the cannons fired upon packed, aligned, unsuspecting, unarmored soldiers who had never heard of this kind of weapon in the battle of Cajamarca. Instead he emphasizes the superiority of the armor and sword of the Conquistadores. According to the author with such weapons each Conquistador could easily kill 12 people.▶◀These are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.<u>Real life research</u>- Development: 5/5 stars- Research: 5/5 stars- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars- Writing stile: 4/5 stars- Violence level: Wars and conquests- Tech level: stone and bronze, Iron and Gunpowder- Religion level: Inca religion, Christianism- Main genre: Historical Compilation- Subgenre: Learning, Culture preservation- Best of it: Delving in a relatively obscure and out-of-reach subject, with clarity and objectivity- Worst of it: Dismissed the physical and psicological effects of heavy weapons- Aftertaste: fulfilled- Real world (Y/N): Y- Main scenario: Andean Empire of the Incas- Research Sources: Mostly Online material, these are worth a visit.- To think about: Why can't the Great Flood from the Bible really be the same as the gread flood in the Incan Creation Myth and also the same as the Great Flood that exists in practically all religions creation Myths, from China to the Middle-East to Europa and Africa, and even in the Andes of America?

I cannot recommend this book. I am sorry to say it as the author has made an enthusiast effort to divulge his passion. I was interested in this book because usually in Peru the history traditionally has been seen under the Spaniard optic as many aspects of our culture were incomprensible to them (and vice versa) the author explains there is no reliability in the data but at the same time introduces Eurocentric aspects that are not present in our culture (yes, we are still alive xD) so I am afraid the author is using outdated data.Among the factual errors we have:*The myth of creation... actually in our culture we have no creation. We are like "produced" by the nature so we care the places were we are from, our Apus, as grandparents, the same with the earth. In our mythology also we can return to be part of those ancestors, being part of a sacred mountain or lake.* There is not Flood or Deluge myth. It was introduced by Catholic priests to indoctrinate us. In my whole life I have been in our native religious celebrations but there is never a mention of the Biblical Flood. I think is the same with the prediction of the return of a so called god that was, oh surprise, white and with a beard...* The myth of origin that the author uses is censored, reducing importance to the sisters and brothers to make it similar to the myth of Adam and Eve. This was originally because Inca Garcilazo de la Vega (son of a ñusta or Inca Princess and a Spaniard) made a version so Europeans could understand it, because our system is matriarchal-patriarchal, not patriarchal, and I guess to avoid censorship by the Catholic Church.* We have no word for "God", the book consider gods to beings that actually are connected with us. It is hard to explain it in another language but perhaps a good analogy would be the bond of parents with sons. The parents are not a god, there is not conception of god despite them being beings of power because this power is mutual respect and love.* In some part is mentioned that for first time the Inca was selected not among the elder son but the more capable. Actually that is the way in our culture when we choose somebody, is not an exception. It is not strange in the European world as the Merovigian dinasty used a similar system (even we are similar in that the people used short hair and nobility long hair) that shaped the complicated rules of the Holy Roman Empire.* About the system of expansion the author calls it "bribing" and to Westerners it could seem so that but in our culture is Ayni (correspondence) and is a principle of courtesy. The Inca would go with presents as a courtesy for the favor of an alliance to the Empire, when I go to a home (of a native friend, not a westerner one) our courtesy means that I have to give a present not to "bribe" my host but as a thanks for the courtesy to allow me in home. It is an etiquette of correspondence.* In the Cosmological Order is strange that there is not mention to our most important constellation: the Chakana or what is called the Southern Cross. It is the base of our system of symmetries and next to the symbol of the wave is the most importan symbol used in palaces and temples around the whole cultures that were in the Inca Empire. In the public and gubernamental buildings of my city is still used.* About the role of the women I am afraid that the author instead shows the role of women in colonial Spaniard culture. In our culture a woman can have as many power as she wants, our native women reach high positions in political and economical power. This is because we are a patriarchal-matriarchal society with equality (and it is different to the equality of feminists) both women and men learn to cook and woven, and both can follow positions of power that in the western societies of the country are usually only searched by men. In the time the Inca Empire was expanding actually the defense of our city was lead by our general, a woman, and she killed many soldiers personally (we were included inside the Empire with a treaty) To the Inca administration economically both women and men were countable, when Spain invaded their authorities only considered countable men and prohibited women the high positions they had before because it seems is something religious. Even more the original myth has four women, the reason three were deleted was because they represented the warrior women, and other aspects of power that Spaniards would consider offensive to their social system.* About the human sacrifices I cannot say if the author is wrong about the amount, so far I only know four mummies found from the whole Inca Empire, I am not sure if they were so numerous. There is a data about numerous sacrifices but by a previous culture that seems to have been influenced by maritime visitors and were not Inca. Also there have been cases of murderers and the crimes were hidden saying there was sacrifices. I bet the number of deaths due to accusations by the Inquisition (that indeed were fewer than the popular perception) were bigger than human sacrifices in Inca Empire. Of course is a practice I would not condone in our times.The Inca legacy is in part kidnapped by the Western side of the country that prefer to consider the native culture something of the past or at best in poverty so they can say they are the continuation of the Inca Empire (winners write the history, etcetera) so only with the influence of the scientific rigor of present Japanese, European and U.S. investigations now our historians and anthropologists are reaching a more objective picture of what we were, so far I am afraid that this book is using very outdated sources.The most rigorous investigations are made by Maria Rostorowski, sadly I couldn't found English versions. I hope you can take this review not as an attack to the author that was generous about investigating our culture but as an advice about what really is without the filter of medieval European thought and beliefs.

This book took no more than 3 hours to fully get through. After pulling a lot of information from different sources, it was nice having a majority of that research compiled simply in this book. Unless someone already has the discipline for reading “history books”, then the book is an easy read. With most things about Ancient American societies, much of the information is lost. It is hard to produce a concise and accurate description of these civilizations. Overall, it’s a decent read. It is only on the history, though! If you are more interested in the myths and religious aspects of the Inca, then read the mythology collection of mesoamerica by the author instead.

Up front, if you are looking to deeply study the Inca then this is not the book for you.That being said, for all intents and purposes, it appears to achieve what it sets out to do, which is to summarize Incan history and culture in a manner which is captivating to the modern audience (that being an audience not inclined towards reading).If you wish to obtain this book for a primary (or even secondary) school library, for your child in order to peak their interest, or for yourself should you be visiting Incan sites and wish for a bit of casual reading to get some background information, then I would very much recommend this book.All in all, this book is satisfactory.

I had little knowledge of the Inca civilization, and this book filled in that gap in my knowledge. This book was a nice, quick read, and I recommend it to you.

Was as expected

Incredibly written and very unbiased about the Inca history. The most interesting part of the book for me was the Inca creation myth and the part written on Inca astronomy. I also enjoyed the full color maps and pictures provided. The book was amazing.😊👍🏻

very good place to begin finding out about the inca, full of interesting facts without being overwhelming

An excellent history of the Inca civilization, and he they were destroyed by the European greed and Christianity. Enjoyed it thoughly…..

Sadly, this is a very poorly written book, with lots of spelling and grammar mistakes and irregularities. The story of the Incas is indeed full of question marks, but this book is mixing accepted truths with myths in a way that makes it difficult to know what to believe. The style reminds me of what I read as a 10-year-old, which is not necessarily wrong, but if you really want to learn about the Incas, I'd suggest looking for another book.

Obra superficial, comercial.