[paola]

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

I'm working through the first part of this remarkable book. One thing seems clear: Hemming demonstrates how the tragedy of the Inca civilization seems to result from the most perverse set of events imaginable. It seems like Murphy's Law was in full operation!

Spoiler:

1. Smallpox decimates the population and kills a great ruler.Pedro Pizarro himself wrote:
"Had Huayna-Capac been alive when we Spaniards entered this land it would have been impossible to win it."

2. The Civil war following the death of Huayna splits and weakens the country.

3. Atahualpa is captured in a ridiculously easy way through his own ineptitude.

4. The captured Inca makes a series of dreadful decisions and, in effect, becomes a collaborator with the Spaniards in destroying his country. He not only sanctions pillage, he fails to encourage any resistance to the invaders and collaborates in the murder of his brother.

5. The best and most feared general the Incas have gives himself up--only to be tortured and killed by the Spanish leaving the country without any effective leader.

Speaking generally, Hemming does a fine job in creating a sense of immediacy in the analysis of seminal events as well as clearing away the anecdotal--often politically motivated--debris that has accumulated over the centuries. His skill and careful analytical research is especially apparent in the narration of the events and motives actually surrounding the "trial" of Atahualpa and the way in which these were then mythologized by later writers.

I hope to be starting it in the next few days - my reader broke down, and I am travelling, so my only option for reading is now my laptop with a grand battery life of the whole of 6 minutes! I am trying to finish another book first, and i really do not like reading on a laptop, but there you go. As it is a "thick" book, I presume I won't be the only one spilling into April to finish it in the meantime, thanks fantasyfan for the spoiler alert