The Incas

This history reconstructs the Inca state from archaeology and from Spanish chronicles, which preserve only some of the rival royal memories. Davies follows the rise of the Cuzco dynasty, the conquests associated with Pachacutec and his successors, and the systems that held an empire from Ecuador to Chile: roads, storehouses, labor service, and the cult of the sun and the mummies of kings. Later chapters treat administration, religion, building, and daily life, then the Spanish invasion and collapse. The book is a synthesis of Inca political and social history, not a travel account of modern Peru.

Bound in gilt blocked red cloth. Dark blue slipcase.