The Conquest of the Incas cover art

The Conquest of the Incas

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Conquest of the Incas

By: John Hemming
Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £22.72

Buy Now for £22.72

In 1532, the magnificent Inca empire was the last great civilization still isolated from the rest of humankind. The Conquest of the Incas is the definitive history of this civilization's overthrow, from the invasion by Pizarro's small gang of conquistadors and the Incas' valiant attempts to expel the invaders to the destruction of the Inca realm, the oppression of its people, and the modern discoveries of Machu Picchu and the lost city of Vilcabamba. 

This authoritative, wide-ranging account, grounded in meticulous research and firsthand knowledge and told from the viewpoints of both protagonists, "keeps all the complex issues to the fore...the deeper wonder of the conquest and the deeper horror of its results" (Washington Post).

©2013 John Hemming (P)2022 Tantor Americas Ancient
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
All stars
Most relevant
First published in 1970, I first read this magisterial account of the conquest of the Incas in the '80s. It inspired me to travel extensively in Peru, including Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail; a truly amazing country. There are surprisingly few books about this topic and there is one simple reason; this book does it all, and with a couple of updates to take account of more recent archaeological discoveries, continues to do so 56 years later.
It covers a 70 year period in considerable detail; the initial invasion, the careful but relentless extension of Conquistador control, the two native rebellions, the incorporation of the Inca nobility (or what remained of it) into the Spanish regime and the desperate story of Spanish exploitation of the native population. The additions update the account for more recent archaeological discoveries. If there were one area which feels a little sparse, it would be the analysis of the demographic holocaust that reduced the native population to a mere fraction of its former numbers.
To cover all of this material in 24 hours is an achievement, but that is also why I give this definitive work only 4 stars. I sense that this book is not the easiest to turn into an audiobook. It is very dense, very detailed and pretty hard to stay with for the long haul. It narrates a complex story in great detail across a country that will not be familiar to many listeners; especially given that many of the key locations have either been lost, destroyed or changed their names.
Gary Tiedemann does a very polished job of narrating this book, handling the many difficult names of people and places with aplomb. But it remains a challenging audiobook to stay with consistently. Nevertheless, if you want to understand the conquest of the Incas, there really is nothing that comes close.

The definitive account

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.