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Customer Reviews (12)

Extraordinary coverage of Peruana culture
Best deep cultural introduction to Peru I have found. This is NOT a travel guide, but an introduction to the "culture, politics and history" of the country as the title suggests. It lives up to its name. Especially useful if you get outside of Lima in your Peruvian visit. This has a permanent place in my library.

Everything I was looking for
I know virtually nothing about Peru and I am going there for two weeks in August.This book was suggested as a thorough primer.It is proving to be just that...

An excellent compendium
Five stars for this book. After I returned from a six week trip to Peru, I was perplexed, astonished, and intrigued by so much that I saw and experienced there. I bought this book hoping it would answer some of my questions. On the contrary, it answered ALL of my questions and left me asking and wanting to read more. What a fascinating country and culture! I was a Latin American Studies major in college, and I learned an incredible amount from this book. I wouldn't recommend taking this book on your trip with you (it's quite large and heavy), but it would be a great intro to the country you're about to visit, or when you're back home missing your vacation, a great resource to dip into to remember and learn more about Peru. As another reviewermentioned, I too wish there was such a book like this for every country I travel to! I will be reading this book again, and I highly recommend it to those who will be traveling to Peru, or to those armchair travelers who have an interest in Latin America.

informative
this is an interesting collection of exerpts from books, articles, archives... for those interested in learning more about Peru's history and development.i would have liked to see bibliographical references for the selected materials.

Review from Branddenotes.blogspot.com
Really good collection of a variety of excerpts from some interesting books. A lot of good poetry too; like Osman Morote's "A Frightening Thirst for Violence":

"The dictator
shifts his gaze
and a rose
acclaimed as fragrant
falls, in a slice,
from just one
beheading

The dictator
swivels his hands
and
one worker
falls, the wife of a
worker
falls, the children of a
worker
fall

Oh!
what a frightening thirst
for vengeance
devours me"

Morote became the second-in-command in the Shining Path, which the book treats even-handedly, except it does tend to leave out sufficient details of the kind of daily suffering due to exploitation and inequality that led people like Morote to sacrifice his life. The book does include testimony from a government soldier, casually discussing his rapes, murders and tortures, and mentions that during the war, far more people were killed by the government than by the rebels. Some surprise.

The best instance of a description of the kind of reality people lived in - terribly far away from the wealth and comfort of rich countries - that would explain a bit about why people would give up their lives in the Shining Path or the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement to create a better society: another poem, an excerpt from "The Battle of Ayacucho" by Antonio Cisneros, which strips of glory the decisive battle that won Peru independence from Spain:

"...
From a Mother
again

My sons and the rest of the dead still
belong to the owner of the horses
and the owner of the lands, and the battles.
A few apple trees grow among their bones
and the tough gorse. That's how they fertilize
this dark tilled land,
That's how they serve the owner
of war, hunger, and the horses." ... Read more

Product Description
This new abridgment of both volumes of Livermore's classic translation presents those selections that comprise Garcilaso's historical narrative. Karen Spalding's new Introduction and notes set Garcilaso in his intellectual, historical, and cultural contexts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrific Insights
This book provides some terrific insights from an original source for anyone looking to enhance understandings of the Inca and their Conquest. A terrific complement to McQuarries' Last Days of the Incas and Hemmings' Conquest of the Incas. ... Read more

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Product Description
Available in one volume, these two works represent both a triumph over personal adversity and an unsparing saga of religious imperialism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent reading
The writer has done an excellent job on presenting the true nature and level of the ability of the native people of Mexico and Peru.If the reader is not already familiar with the history of Mexico and Peru, then this book must be read.It was a flowing and capitvating time to read and the writer, Mr. Prescot has researched original documents to present this excellent book.I felt it was true to the facts and fair to all concerned.

Excellent, classic history
William Prescott's histories of the conquests of Mexico and Peru in the 16th Century are classic, extremely well-written accounts.Prescott was one of the great American historians of the 19th Century and he describes historical events whose effects still resonate today in the Americas. His histories read like novels and are are backed up by footnotes giving references to sources and additional facts.Prescott has a 19th Century view of events, but that's when he was writing.I highly recommend this book, which combines both histories in a single volume.

A solidly researched history of the Spanish conquest
William Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico" and "History of the Conquest of Peru" are brought together in one volume that provides a solidly researched and detailed account of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.The first volume, describing the Mexican conquest, is the better of the two.In the first chapters, Prescott describes the life and culture of the native Mexican tribes, concentrating on the dominant Aztecs, their religion, customs, achievements in literature, astronomy, agriculture and mechanical arts, and discusses the infighting among the various native princes that set them up for a fall when the Spanish conquistadores landed in the New World.Prescott writes about the efforts of Bartolomé de las Casas to protect the natives from slavery and how this was rejected on the specious grounds that the Indians had to be brought into contact with the Spaniards in order to be converted to Christianity and slavery was the only way to achieve this end.Prescott describes the conquest of the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Santo Domingo and San Juan de Puerto Rico (as it was then known) as a precursor of the conquest of the Mexican mainland, and how some Indians like Montezuma thought the Spaniards were there for their benefit, whereas others, like Xicotencatl, the Tlascalan chief, were suspicious of the Spaniards' motives from the beginning and tried to unite the native tribes against them.The Noche Triste, brought on by the arrogance and cruelty of the Spanish captain Pedro de Alvarado, is described in such detail that the reader is totally caught up in the narrative.One finishes this volume filled with admiration at Prescott as an historian and a writer, and regretting what a great civilization was destroyed out of pure greed and lust for gold.

"The History of the Conquest of Peru" is as well-written and detailed as the first volume, but it seemed a little drier to this reader, possibly because I was already familiar with the history and culture of the Incas from reading the "Comentarios Reales" of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the son of a Spanish father and an Incan princess.Prescott gives several pages to Garcilaso's talents as a historian, which he doesn't think much of; he notes that Garcilaso, writing as a spokesman for his defeated countrymen, painted a picture of Incan civilization that bordered on the panegyric.But Prescott quotes from Garcilaso here and there throughout his own book.Prescott presents the history of the Pizarro brothers' march through Peru, the defeat of the Incas and the death of Atahualpa, all in scrupulously researched detail.The Pizarros comes across as much less sympathetic figures than Cortes; while Cortes was able to appreciate the humanity of the native Mexicans, and tried to rein in some of his more rapacious captains, Alvarado among them, the Pizarro brothers and their captains, notably Carbajal and Almagro, seemed to be trying to outdo each other in cruelty.We end up feeling nothing but disgust for the avarice and ambition of these people, and the devastating effect it had on the native civilizations that were unfortunate enough to be in their way.

Prescott wrote his history over two hundred years ago and it's still the gold standard of early Latin American historiography.Taken as a whole, the volumes present a panoramic view of the clash of cultures that continues to reverberate to this day throughout Central and South America.Prescott is a vivid narrator and an excellent storyteller; his account grabs the reader early and sweeps you along from the first page to the last.It's a terrific read and a grand tour through two lost civilizations.

Remarkable events told by a remarkable author
I'm not a historian. I just like to read history and historical fiction. I first discovered William Prescott's Conquest of Peru in the back of a used bookstore. My kids are from Peru so I decided I should check it out. The first section was about the Inca civilization; their society, customs, politics, and more. It was certainly interesting and readable, but a bit dry. Once the narrative turned to Pizzaro and his band of adventurers, however, I was hooked. They don't call Prescott a romantic historian for nothing. He blends detailed accounts of absolutely outrageous courage, hardship, audacity, greed, ignorance, politics, faith, slaughter, naiveté, and more with vivid insights into the lives, characters and motives of the people involved. The story reads like excellent historical fiction, and yet it's meticulously researched fact.

Prescott's Conquest of Mexico is every bit as good as Conquest of Peru. The book starts with a section on the Aztec civilization, then turns to Cortez and his men. These adventurers behaved as though they were invincible, they believed their faith in God made them so, and one almost comes to believe that they were as they beat unimaginable odds over and over and over again. I was on the edge of my seat through all three volumes.

No offense to Lewis & Clark (or Stephen Ambrose), but Prescott's Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru make Undaunted Courage sound like a family picnic. Remarkable events told by a remarkable author. It's no wonder these books are still popular more than one and a half centuries after they were written.

The Conquest of Mexico
My review concerns only the first part of the book, "The Conquest of Mexico." What a treat, to read this after reading Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, I think that only this book, could've made my transition from the ethereal realm of great books to the earthly realm of good books. Prescott's Conquest of Mexico is a long read, but a rewarding one. It is an excellent narrative history, where depth and pathos are brought to Cortez, his men, Montezuma and the many more that are an intrigal part of this history. A recount of a band of a few hundred Spainards, commanded by a man, Cortez, who is alternatively driven by proselytizing the indians of the central mexico and his lust for gold. Slowly and in a beautiful, novel-esque way, Prescott, reveals the heart of Cortez and the 16th century conquistadors, the clash of cultures and the terrible outcomes the result. Neither are the Indians ignored, and much time (especially for a 19th century author) is spent on the rituals, customs, habits and political and religious life of the Natives. A truly dramatic tale with a tragic ending, all told with the poetic elegance of Prescott, it's a great read. ... Read more

Product Description

For centuries, Peru's coast, mountains, and jungles have served as the grounds for bustling civilizations, including the Incan Empire. This exciting and comprehensive volume covers social life and culture, political practices, economics, and international influence throughout the ages in Peru, from the earliest social groups dating as far back as 500 BC to life today in the 21st Century. Ideal for high school students and general readers interested in South American history, this volume is an essential addition for high school and public libraries. A timeline of key events, list of notable people who made significant contributions to Peru's history, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources supplement the work.

For centuries, Peru's coast, mountains, and jungles have served as the grounds for bustling civilizations, including the Incan Empire. This exciting and comprehensive volume covers social life and culture, political practices, economics, and international influence throughout the ages in Peru, from the earliest social groups dating as far back as 500 BC to life today in the 21st Century. Ideal for high school students and general readers interested in South American history, this volume is an essential addition for high school and public libraries. A timeline of key events, list of notable people who made significant contributions to Peru's history, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources supplement the work.

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Customer Reviews (6)

Vivid Portrayal of History
When you travel to Peru, even today, the country's landscape and country are dominated by the conflict that occurred between the Incas and the Spaniards in the 16th century. Spanish style buildings are intermixed with those of the entirely different culture of the Incas. This book portrays the battles and conflicts in vivid terms, and although it is a sad story, one of greed and conquest, it is still quite interesting. If you have been to Cuzco you can superimpose the events of the book on that city in your mind and just sit back in awe. For those who find this part of the world interesting I can highly recommend this book. You get a better sense of the Spaniards but that is probably because most of the written history comes from their records. Whatever sophistication the Incas had in their culture and architecture is still a bit of a mystery.

Outstanding! Just like being there!
The Inca HUAYNA CAPAC (died in 1525 ad) had two heirs to the throne. ATHAHUALLPA (to whom he left the northern part of the country, with the capital of Quito), who was not from a mother of Inca blood, though she was the Inca's favorite; and HUASCAR, son of his lawful wife and sister, the legitimate heir to the crown. Huascar received the southern part of the country, with the capital Cuzco.
After the Inca died, the two brothers precipitated Peru in civil war; Athauallpa won. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, Francisco Pizzarro captured Atahuallpa; his subjects were utterly disheartened at this sacrilege. Remember the fascinating episode of Atahuallpa sitting on the ground and the Spanish horseman approaching him until the horse was very close to the Inca's face; though Atahuallpa had never seen a horse before he did not flinch. However, some of his retinue were scared and pulled back. The Inca had them killed the same day for showing fear and dishonoring themselves. During his time in captivity the Inca had his brother Huascar killed. Atahuallpa was put to death by the Spaniards even though he filled a room with gold from all over the country as a ransom for himself and his familiy. After being pressured, he embraced the Christian faith right before being put to death; instead of being burnt alive, he was garroted.
Atahuallpa's general Chalcucima was burnt on the stake and Quisquis was killed by some of his own men who were tired of fighting against the Spaniards. Manco Inca was then crowned new ruler of the Incas as a puppet of the Spaniards. However, after some time he managed to escape and to live in freedom for a long time in Cajamarca.
Juan Pizzarro died wahile storming the citadel of Cuzco. Almagro and Pizzarro began a civil war. Almagro was captured and put to death (garroted in prison).Hernando Pizzarro, upon returning to Spain, was imprisoned for twenty years in a dungeon and released in 1560. He died at the age of 100. Followers of Almagro assassinated Francisco Pizzarro (1541) and started a feud against the Pizzarros. The son of Almagro was captured and behaded as well. Manco Inca was assassinated by a group of Almagristas whom he had sheltered in Cajamarca (they were afterwards all slain by the Incas). A feud erupted between Gonzalo Pizzarro and the viceroy Blasco Nunez. They went to war and the viceroy was captured and killed on the battlefield. Pizzarro proclaimed himself master of Peru.Pedro de la Gasca was sent to Peru in 1545 to straighten things up, on behalf of the emperor Charles V. He was a very good cleric and a good administrator. The offer of surrender and of pardon which he extended to Gonzalo Pizzarro was turned down. War erupted between the royalists and Pizzarro. Carbajal was an old brave and cruel general who fought on the side of the Pizzarros. He was captured and executed; same fate befell Gonzalo (1550). Prescott, who wrote in the 1800s without ever setting foot in South America, tells all these stories in a very captivating way. He is never dull, always exciting and a pleasure to read! (See also his History of the Conquest of Mexico)

great gift for old guys
I read this one while traveling around Peru and the local experts confirmed the accuracy of Prescott's 150-year-old writings about Inca culture.Many of the most important actors in the book were surprisingly old considering the hardships that they endured.For example, Pizarro himself was 60 when he started heading down towards Peru through terrible storms in wooden boats, often getting stranded in mosquito-infested jungles without food for months at a time.He was 65 by the time he actually conquered Peru.One of the Pizarro family's most effective generals in their fights against other Spaniards was 80-84 during the period of these civil wars.

This book makes a great gift for anyone traveling to Ecuador or Peru and for anyone over the age of 60.

Somewhat boring
There's a lot of information here but the book is often slow and dull and too wordy and pretentious for my tastes.Less is more.

A Great History Book!
A wonderful book! It reads like great fiction but the events aren't fiction-- they actually happened! This book kept me captivated, I couldn't put it down! Prescott does a marvelous Job! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great history of Peru
A Brief history of Peru covers the entire history in a succinct and efficient manor. While it would be nice if a little more attention was paid to Manco Inca's rebellion and the importance of Bolivar; the book still succeeds in painting a picture of Peru's prosperity.The writing is very clear and well done showing how dictatorships rose and the military and civilian powers grew apart.This book also covers the Shining Path terrorist organization in very good detail setting the stage for the modern era in Peru. The confusion that the country is now gripped in is truly astounding.From violence on all sides to the election of the first Indian president the country is set for historic changes. Those who want to understand how Peru formed into the nation it is today will be well served by this book. ... Read more

Product Description
The Historia del Nuevo Mundo, set down by Father Bernabe Cobo during the first half of the seventeenth century, represents a singulary valuable source on Inca culture. Working directly frorn the original document, Roland Hamilton has translated that part of Cobo's massive manuscripts that focuses on the history of the kingdom of Peru. The volume includes a general account of the aspect, character, and dress of the Indians as well as a superb treatise on the Incas--their legends, history, and social institutions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inca History Must Read
Garcilaso de la Vega's recollections of pre-Hispanic Peru (and Bolivia) are perhaps the most important in any language. Known as "El Inca," De La Vega was of two bloods -- the illegitimate son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca princess. He was born in the Incan capital of Cuzco, Peru, and steeped in both traditions. So his accounts of what life was like before The Conquest of the Queshua-speaking people of Peru and Bolivia are the closest to what it truly was like before the illiterate son of a pig farmer, Francisco Pizarro, and a handfull of armored and horsed Spanish adventurers exploited multiple coincidences to "conquer" the so-called Inca empire. These variables included the unrest in the Incan empire after Atahualpa, the last "Inca" (name of the "Son of the Sun" -- the king) defeated his brother, Huascar, for the kingship; and the facts that the Queshua-speaking people of Peru and Bolivia (misnomered as: The Inca) had never seen horses, had no firearms and were expecting the return of a white, bearded god named "Viracocha" -- who they took Pizarro to be. Curiously the Aztec of Mexico were defeated a few years earlier because of a similar "white bearded god" myth -- the Aztec thought Hernan Cortes was Quetzalcoatl, their name for the "white bearded god" who had promised to return to the people of Mexico hundreds of years before The Conquest by Cortes.

The marvels of the organization of most of South America under the "Inca" empire are wonderfully illustrated by De La Vega in his "Royal Commentaries." Life as he "remembers" it before Pizarro (since he was born just after the conquest) comes alive under the pen of "El Inca" as under no other historian. De la Vega gives life to this great story of the clash of empires and cultures that is on a level with the epic conquests of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the Romans and the early Muslims. "The Royal Commentaries" is a must-read for anyone fascinated (as I am) with life in South America before the Spanish stumbled into The New World in search of gold and souls. ... Read more

Product Description
Peru is a country with a remarkable history---in the earliest times, the Incas managed to found a major civilization here, despite the region's environment, which is one of the harshest in the world. The Spanish colonial rule which followed the conquest exploited basic mineral resources in the area without bringing either stability or wealth to the existing population, and unfortunately, economic depression and civil war have frequently left their pockmarks on Peruvian history ever since. In this book, Klaren explores the country's long history, with particular emphasis on social and economic issues, from pre-Incan times to 1995. Organized chronologically, the text also discusses the major themes of Peru's past, focusing not only on prominent figures, but on the daily lives of ordinary people as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Dense social and economic history of Peru offers considerable insight, but at a slow pace
For me as a reader, what makes a history book great is not the detail or amount of knowledge within, but the manner in which the author conveys that knowledge to the reader. Great history leaps off the page, and a great writer can make even the dullest subject fascinating. This is not quite the case with Peter Flindell Klaren's solid history of Peru entitled, Peru: Society and Nationhood in the Andes. Klaren, a professor of history and International Affairs at the George Washington University, creates a comprehensive historical, sociological, and economic history of this oft-troubled South American nation, ranging from the pre-Inca natives to the confused politics of the Fujimora era.

Though incredibly well researched and detailed, the book is not one designed for light reading. Klaren writes like an academic working on a thesis in the library: churning, expelling fact after fact without pause and not bringing the life behind the stories to the surface. His use of terms and concepts relating to specific eras of Peruvian history are often discussed in context but not explained until pages later, creating confusion. Klaren's intent with this work was to research how economics and sociological issues helped create the troubled history of Peru. By focusing on this aspect, however, he bogs down in the economic numbers, citing statistic after statistic until it all blurs together.

In fairness, Klaren notes that it is not possible to completely and elegantly distill 10,000 years of history from a country the size of Spain, England, and France combined, especially one in which academic research has been sorely lacking. Klaren does provide extremely helpful statistical tables and comprehensive source references at the end of the book, and it is quite clear the massive amount of research that went into the writing of this book. Also notable is his focus on the impact of the diversity of the Peruvian populace and how ethnic history shaped the political and social history of the country.

If you are a student or someone with an interest in how economies and socio-politics creates history and can affect the development of small nations, then this is a very good book for you. This is also a wonderful reference source for those looking to write or explore in detail Peru's history. If you are looking for a light, fast moving history, you might be better suited elesewhere in the book aisle.

A.G. Corwin
St. Louis, MO

Perú: nación de sobrevivientes
En 25 años no se había publicado una Historia del Perú de envergadura similar en los Estados Unidos: de Chavín a Fujimori, un milenio de trayectoria colectiva en un solo volumen. El prestigio de su autor -PeterF. Klarén de la Universidad George Washington- y del sello editorial que laauspicia -Oxford University Press- son razones suficientes para prever lainfluencia que Peru: Society and Nationhood in the Andes habrá de tener enlos medios «peruanistas» norteamericanos.

Establecer un ejeinterpretativo con validez en el largo plazo es el mayor reto en unproyecto de esta naturaleza. Ni las épicas incaica o pizarrista ni menosaún la lucha por la independencia funcionan más, advierte el autor, comolos eventos fundacionales de una historia nacional. En la supervivenciamisma de sus pobladores, en su voluntad e ingenio para levantarse desucesivas devastaciones -de origen tanto humano como natural-, encuentra elprofesor Klarén la clave de la larga duración peruana; una historia, segúnél, tan rica como dolorosa.

Varios siglos de supervivencia comunitariahicieron del Tawantinsuyo el más efectivo proyecto estatal en la historiade los Andes. Verdadero triunfo sobre la fragmentación que de la geografíamisma pareciera emanar. Su derrumbe, y la catástrofe demográfica queprosiguió supondría para las sociedades andinas una perecedera«desestructuración».

Con todo su poderío, no obstante, el orden colonialno logra imponer por completo los criterios de casta y segregaciónoriginalmente previstos. A ello, los futuros peruanos ofrecieron una tercaresistencia, demostrando asimismo una distintiva capacidad para maximizarlas oportunidades que las fisuras del poder colonial ofrecían. A lo largodel XVIII, la supervivencia deviene rebeldía.

Frente a la concienciacriolla forjada en la capital virreinal surge, en la sierra sur, una visiónalternativa: recuperar la memoria incaica en la perspectiva de un programanacional. Como nación, el Perú terminará construyéndose a contramano de lahistoria representada por los rebeldes de 1780: «lo criollo» como negaciónde «lo andino».

Tomando la iniciativa nuevamente, entre fines del XIX einicios del XX, emprende la población andina un nuevo ciclo deconfrontación: comunidades contra haciendas una vez más. En lo que quedadel siglo la cuestión de la marginalidad indígena aparece como el grantelón de fondo de una historia cuyos cronistas oficiales insistieron enreducir a los avatares estatales y capitalinos: la «historia de Lima» comosustituto de la «historia del Perú».

Una verdadera revoluciónhistoriográfica, en curso desde los años 70, es lo que permite, subrayaKlarén, esta drástica ampliación del marco histórico peruano. Unarevolución basada en los aportes convergentes de investigadores peruanos(Pease, Burga, Flores Galindo, Manrique, Bonilla, entre otros) yextranjeros (Stern, Spalding, Jacobsen, Gootemberg), cuya obra individualhace posible la síntesis interpretativa ahora intentada por Klarén.

Peroes la historia misma de las últimas décadas la que convalida el esquemainterpretativo elegido por Klaren: la emergencia de una sociedad de masasque, del «desborde popular» (Matos Mar) al «otro sendero» (De Soto), y dela insurrección senderista a la contra-isurrección rondera, decretaría lacrisis final del país imaginado por los criollos de inicios del XIX.

Laevolución política contemporánea, desde esta perspectiva, aparece como unasucesión de intentos por revertir la desestructuración y erigir andamiajesinstitucionales duraderos sobre las arenas movedizas de una historiairresuelta.

Si hay una lección importante a extraer de una historiaconstruida así es aquella relativa a las hondas raíces de nuestrafragmentación, sustrato último de nuestra inveterada inestabilidad.Dictamen de la geografía y de la historia, que explica, en buena medida,nuestra tradición de caudillos, refundaciones sucesivas y precariosexperimentos democráticos. Ni el país «enfermo» o «embrujado» que se haquerido ver, tampoco el país con futuro brillante per se. Una lección dehumildad más bien es la que esta lectura sugiere, la apreciación de underrotero que lejos de culminar en el panteón de los héroes encuentra enuna milenaria vocación de supervivencia su clave última y su promesa. Unpaís de sobrevivientes, en suma, aún a la espera de una genuinareconciliación. ... Read more

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Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This definitive, magnificently illustrated work offers a comprehensive view of the textiles and techniques of pre-Columbian Peru. An introduction discusses yarns, dyes, looms, and raw materials; the first of the two-part text examines weaves, and the second considers such nonwoven materials as braiding, felt, and embroidery. Hundreds of illustrations depict authentic, well-preserved textiles, tapestries, and personal items. "An incentive, an inspiration, and a guide."--Scientific American. Approx. 465 b/w illus.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A serious study on pre-Columbian textiles and weaving
This was one of the first serious attempts at examining the weaving techniques used on what is still considered one of the more primitive looms in use today. Many other researchers, weavers and non-weavers alike, have used this book as a basis for their work, and built upon the research he did, so it is one of the bibles on South American indigenous weaving.
The text is somewhat dry because this is not a coffee table book; and the photographs of textiles are unfortunately in black and white, but there is more than enough information here for several more authoritative books on the subject, and is a must for the serious weaving or textile student. It is divided up into sections that attempt to give a classification of the types of textiles found, and the methods used to create them. Textile production, and the way the garments or artifacts were constructed and decorated, had great religious and social significance, and the methods used were/are anything but primitive, although most looms consist of a bundle of sticks.
There is nothing on basic weaving techniques as such; this is not an instruction book on how to do backstrap weaving, but is a must have for anyone interested in taking their weaving beyond the basics, and understanding what the loom is really capable of. Multi-shaft loom weavers will also find it interesting as many of the techniques described bear a striking resemblance to techniques practiced today around the world in other weaving cultures. It is helpful in re-interpreting these techniques for the modern loom.As someone who is studying backstrap weaving techniques, I would not be without this book as it is good to go back to see, study and understand the diagrams, photographs and descriptions of the textiles the author examined.
An excellent resource for those interested in Pre-Columbian textiles and weaving traditions.

Not what I expected
I thought that this book would focus on more on the symbolism of the textiles, butI was disapointed. The book was primarily dealing with the technical aspects of weaving a is a little outdated. The images were all in black and white so I could not get a good feel for the textiles.

Must-have for Andean textile classification
We used this book and a few others for comparisons with a collection of ancient peruvian textiles at a museum I worked for several years ago.It was very useful and we referred to it frequently.It included all of the techniques used in the museum collection (consisting of 100's of fragments), and had plenty of pictures for examples.Of course the techniques aren't limited to Ancient Peru, but would apply to just about any textiles--(however the pictures are ancient peruvian).I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about ancient or modern textile techniques--a valuable resource in any museum with this type of collection.

Will please any avid textile artist
This unabridged reproduction of a 1962 classic should be an essential edition to any textile collection: Textiles Of Ancient Peru And Their Techniques covers raw materials form Peru, weaves unique to the region, and techniques and materials used in nonwoven efforts. The result will please any avid textile artist. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in Peru in 1990, The Shining Path was immediately hailed as one of the finest works on the insurgency that plagued that nation for over fifteen years. A richly detailed and absorbing account, it covers the dramatic years between the guerrillas' opening attack in 1980 and President Fernando Belaunde's reluctant decision to send in the military to contain the growing rebellion in late 1982. Covering the strategy, actions, successes, and setbacks of both the government and the rebels, the book shows how the tightly organized insurgency forced itself upon an unwilling society just after the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime.

One of Peru's most distinguished journalists, Gustavo Gorriti first covered the Shining Path movement for the leading Peruvian newsweekly, Caretas. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and an impressive array of government and Shining Path documents, he weaves his careful research into a vivid portrait of the now-jailed Shining Path leader Abimael Guzm‡n, Belaunde and his generals, and the unfolding drama of the fiercest war fought on Peruvian soil since the Chilean invasion a century before. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not for beginners, uneven, but valuable testimony
The book by Gorriti I call an account rather than a history, because it conveys the movement in medias res, published in 1990 as the SL prepared to assault the capital, well before the 1992 capture of Guzmán and the persecution of Gorriti.In a 1998 preface, he briefly describes how, when president (elected in 1990) Alberto Fujimori staged a coup in 1992, he was arrested for his investigational journalism into the president and his `Creole Rasputin'-right before the arrest of Comrade Gonzalo. Gorriti managed to escape, files spirited out of the country too, and wound up in Panama working for its paper La Prensa. There, in 1996, he again faced his enemies as that government threatened him after he exposed a campaign financed by a Colombian drug cartel. He lived in his office for weeks, so as to foil police plans for his deportation. He emerged victorious, determined to uphold-in what he calls `cosmetic democracies', a free press.

At the time Gorriti compiled his tale of the SL, he had intended it as part of a three-volume work on the Peruvian Communist Party and its many alphabet-soup off-brands. This shows, as I was instantly immersed into a detailed narrative of unions, strikes, police machinations, and bureaucratic-to me-trivia. The book is probably not the first place to go for a quick introduction to the situation into which Sendero Luminoso stumbled. Gorriti clearly addresses an audience more familiar than I was with his country. Still, the gifts of his journalistic verve carried me through pages of departmental decisions into powerful chapters that highlighted the deadly nature of Guzmán's millenarian blend of Lenin, Marx, Mao, and messianic apocalypse that plunged-literally-much of his nation into darkness and resulted in at least 70,000 deaths, half of these at the hands of those who claimed to liberate the people from their imperialist oppressors. Half of these at the hands of those who claimed to protect the people from their revolutionary oppressors.

This is Gorriti's achievement. Eschewing the glib slogans of the left and the harsh vows of the right, he tracks the rise of the Shining Path from a few students tossing dynamite-a commodity readily nicked from the mines-to police reprisals and the spread of societal breakdown across the Andes and into, as the book ends, the edges of the city. What the history lacks is a context for foreign readers into which Guzmán and his ilk can be placed. Not even his birthdate is given; we know nothing here about his early schooling, what kind of a doctor he was, or how José Carlos Mariátegui founded the PCP, apparently in the 1930s. This information, which any academic editor would insist upon in a conventional manuscript, is, I assume, assumed by Gorriti not to matter or to be common knowledge to his Peruvian audience. Robin Kirk (who has written a lefty's view of Perú, The Monkey's Paw) translates what, given my knowledge of Spanish, I presume carries the uneven rhythms of the original prose, with its leaden `he said, she said' reports from within the corridors of power as well as its nearly cinematic vignettes of attacks and reprisals from the front.

Given these drawbacks, nonetheless, the uneasy mixture of dry minutiae about police intelligence sloshes against a potent additive. Excellent analyses of Sendero rhetoric and the emergence of his death cult demolish naive leftist praise for this deadly insurgency; on the other hand, the reprisals that the Senderos provoked and received resulted in innocents being taken with the guilty--and the two sometimes becoming blurred.

The energy with which he describes the attacks by the guerrillas on the Ayacucho police stations, the torture of suspects, the funerals of officers and cadets, the rain on a tin-roofed shanty where a teenaged girl guerrilla shows her interviewers the marks of her abuse by her captors: all of these vignettes unforgettably inscribe themselves on your memory.

(Edited from a review article, "No Escape from the Anthill" at the on-line Belfast journal The Blanket)

Definitive Account of Shining Path
Gorriti's account of how Abimael Guzman and his astoundingly savage cohort found enough followers to convulse Peru for a decade is detailed and authoritative.It is also wonderfully free of the dense prose and meandering sentences which plague so much serious writing on Latin America.This book is indispensable for anyone attempting to understand how savage Maoism found purchase in the Andes. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Vivid Portrayal of History
When you travel to Peru, even today, the country's landscape and country are dominated by the conflict that occurred between the Incas and the Spaniards in the 16th century. Spanish style buildings are intermixed with those of the entirely different culture of the Incas. This book portrays the battles and conflicts in vivid terms, and although it is a sad story, one of greed and conquest, it is still quite interesting. If you have been to Cuzco you can superimpose the events of the book on that city in your mind and just sit back in awe. For those who find this part of the world interesting I can highly recommend this book. You get a better sense of the Spaniards but that is probably because most of the written history comes from their records. Whatever sophistication the Incas had in their culture and architecture is still a bit of a mystery.

Outstanding! Just like being there!
The Inca HUAYNA CAPAC (died in 1525 ad) had two heirs to the throne. ATHAHUALLPA (to whom he left the northern part of the country, with the capital of Quito), who was not from a mother of Inca blood, though she was the Inca's favorite; and HUASCAR, son of his lawful wife and sister, the legitimate heir to the crown. Huascar received the southern part of the country, with the capital Cuzco.
After the Inca died, the two brothers precipitated Peru in civil war; Athauallpa won. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, Francisco Pizzarro captured Atahuallpa; his subjects were utterly disheartened at this sacrilege. Remember the fascinating episode of Atahuallpa sitting on the ground and the Spanish horseman approaching him until the horse was very close to the Inca's face; though Atahuallpa had never seen a horse before he did not flinch. However, some of his retinue were scared and pulled back. The Inca had them killed the same day for showing fear and dishonoring themselves. During his time in captivity the Inca had his brother Huascar killed. Atahuallpa was put to death by the Spaniards even though he filled a room with gold from all over the country as a ransom for himself and his familiy. After being pressured, he embraced the Christian faith right before being put to death; instead of being burnt alive, he was garroted.
Atahuallpa's general Chalcucima was burnt on the stake and Quisquis was killed by some of his own men who were tired of fighting against the Spaniards. Manco Inca was then crowned new ruler of the Incas as a puppet of the Spaniards. However, after some time he managed to escape and to live in freedom for a long time in Cajamarca.
Juan Pizzarro died wahile storming the citadel of Cuzco. Almagro and Pizzarro began a civil war. Almagro was captured and put to death (garroted in prison).Hernando Pizzarro, upon returning to Spain, was imprisoned for twenty years in a dungeon and released in 1560. He died at the age of 100. Followers of Almagro assassinated Francisco Pizzarro (1541) and started a feud against the Pizzarros. The son of Almagro was captured and behaded as well. Manco Inca was assassinated by a group of Almagristas whom he had sheltered in Cajamarca (they were afterwards all slain by the Incas). A feud erupted between Gonzalo Pizzarro and the viceroy Blasco Nunez. They went to war and the viceroy was captured and killed on the battlefield. Pizzarro proclaimed himself master of Peru.Pedro de la Gasca was sent to Peru in 1545 to straighten things up, on behalf of the emperor Charles V. He was a very good cleric and a good administrator. The offer of surrender and of pardon which he extended to Gonzalo Pizzarro was turned down. War erupted between the royalists and Pizzarro. Carbajal was an old brave and cruel general who fought on the side of the Pizzarros. He was captured and executed; same fate befell Gonzalo (1550). Prescott, who wrote in the 1800s without ever setting foot in South America, tells all these stories in a very captivating way. He is never dull, always exciting and a pleasure to read! (See also his History of the Conquest of Mexico)

great gift for old guys
I read this one while traveling around Peru and the local experts confirmed the accuracy of Prescott's 150-year-old writings about Inca culture.Many of the most important actors in the book were surprisingly old considering the hardships that they endured.For example, Pizarro himself was 60 when he started heading down towards Peru through terrible storms in wooden boats, often getting stranded in mosquito-infested jungles without food for months at a time.He was 65 by the time he actually conquered Peru.One of the Pizarro family's most effective generals in their fights against other Spaniards was 80-84 during the period of these civil wars.

This book makes a great gift for anyone traveling to Ecuador or Peru and for anyone over the age of 60.

Somewhat boring
There's a lot of information here but the book is often slow and dull and too wordy and pretentious for my tastes.Less is more.

A Great History Book!
A wonderful book! It reads like great fiction but the events aren't fiction-- they actually happened! This book kept me captivated, I couldn't put it down! Prescott does a marvelous Job! ... Read more