Kim MacQuarrie

La historia de la legendaria ciudad inca de Vilcabamba permaneció sepultada en viejas crónicas españolas durante cuatro siglos. Los antiguos relatos hablan de un joven rey inca llamado Manco que se escondio en las profundidades de las selvas amazonicas despues de ver como los españoles conquistaban su imperio. Alli construyo una ciudad que resistio como ultimo bastion inca durante 36 años hasta caer en manos españolas en 1572.Kim MacQuarrie ha recogido un inolvidable relato de la conquista española y de la busqueda de la ciudad perdida de Vilcabamba. Los ultimos dias de los incas revive uno de los levantamientos mas heroicos de la historia.Una aportacion muy bienvenida a la literatura sobre el tema agil y dramatica. (Washington Post).Fascinante y absorbente tan valiosa como el oro inca. (History Magazine).Los ultimos dias de los incas sorprende, enseña y se lee como una extraordinaria novela. He leido muchos libros sobre los incas, pero este logro sacarme del aula y me transporto a un mundo perdido en el pasado. (Keith Bellows, Editor Jefe, National Geographic Traveller).

A thoughtfully observed travel memoir and history as richly detailed as it is deeply felt (Kirkus Reviews) of South America, from Butch Cassidy to Che Guevara to cocaine king Pablo Escobar to Charles Darwin, all set in the Andes Mountains.The Andes Mountains are the worlds longest mountain chain, linking most of the countries in South America. Kim MacQuarrie takes us on a historical journey through this unique region, bringing fresh insight and contemporary connections to such fabled characters as Charles Darwin, Che Guevara, Pablo Escobar, Butch Cassidy, Thor Heyerdahl, and others. He describes living on the floating islands of Lake Titcaca. He introduces us to a Patagonian woman who is the last living speaker of her language. We meet the woman who cared for the wounded Che Guevara just before he died, the police officer who captured cocaine king Pablo Escobar, the dancer who hid Shining Path guerrilla Abimael Guzman, and a man whose grandfather witnessed the death of Butch Cassidy.Collectively these stories tell us something about the spirit of South America. What makes South America different from other continentsand what makes the cultures of the Andes different from other cultures found there? How did the capitalism introduced by the Spaniards change South America? Why did Shining Path leader Guzman nearly succeed in his revolutionary quest while Che Guevara in Bolivia was a complete failure in his?MacQuarrie writes smartly and engagingly and withenthusiasm about the variety of South Americas life and landscape (The New York Times Book Review) in Life and Death in the Andes. Based on the authors own deeply observed travels, this is a well-written, immersive work that history aficionados, particularly those with an affinity for Latin America, will relish (Library Journal).

From Emmy(-winning documentary filmmaker and author MacQuarrie comes a landmark history of the epic conquest of the mighty Inca Empire, and the decades-long insurgency the Incas waged against the Con

The epic story of the fall of the Inca Empire to Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the aftermath of a bloody civil war, and the recent discovery of the lost guerrilla capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, by three American explorers.In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevaileddue largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. But the Incas did not submit willingly. A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards, inflicting heavy casualties and nearly wiping out the conquerors. Eventually, however, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandon the Andes and flee to the Amazon. There, he established a hidden capital, called Vilcabambaonly recently rediscovered by a trio of colorful American explorers. Although the Incas fought a deadly, thirty-six-year-long guerrilla war, the Spanish ultimately captured the last Inca emperor and vanquished the native resistance.

La historia de la legendaria ciudad inca de Vilcabamba permaneció sepultada en viejas crónicas españolas durante cuatro siglos. Los antiguos relatos hablan de un joven rey inca llamado Manco que se escondio en las profundidades de las selvas amazonicas despues de ver como los españoles conquistaban su imperio. Alli construyo una ciudad que resistio como ultimo bastion inca durante 36 años hasta caer en manos españolas en 1572.Kim MacQuarrie ha recogido un inolvidable relato de la conquista española y de la busqueda de la ciudad perdida de Vilcabamba. Los ultimos dias de los incas revive uno de los levantamientos mas heroicos de la historia.Una aportacion muy bienvenida a la literatura sobre el tema agil y dramatica. (Washington Post).Fascinante y absorbente tan valiosa como el oro inca. (History Magazine).Los ultimos dias de los incas sorprende, enseña y se lee como una extraordinaria novela. He leido muchos libros sobre los incas, pero este logro sacarme del aula y me transporto a un mundo perdido en el pasado. (Keith Bellows, Editor Jefe, National Geographic Traveller).

The epic story of the fall of the Inca Empire to Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the aftermath of a bloody civil war, and the recent discovery of the lost guerrilla capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, by three American explorers.In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed-due largely to their horses, their steel armour and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.But the Incas did not submit willingly. A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards, inflicting heavy casualties and nearly wiping out the conquerors. Eventually, however, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandon the Andes and flee to the Amazon. There, he established a hidden capital, called Vilcabamba-only recently rediscovered by a trio of colorful American explorers. Although the Incas fought a deadly, thirty-six-year-long guerrilla war, the Spanish ultimately captured the last Inca emperor and vanquished the native resistance.