Reviews

Last of the Incas: The Rise and Fall of an American Empire by George Ordish, Edward Hyams

62sghg's review

1.0

This book is problematic. I got bad enough that I had to stop reading it. It repeatedly idolizes the actions of the Spanish, erases any Indigenous narratives that aren't Incan, but still involved in the story, and regularly uses the words "savage" and "barbarian" to describe different Indigenous South Americans. The book goes as far as describing a massacre of 5000 by Pizarro as "This remarkable achievement of sheer hard work was modestly attributed by the Spaniards themselves to their Heavenly Father." If you're looking for an interesting read on the Inca Empire, look for another book less steeped in racism.