or

Special Offer

Download for Free with
Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Start your free trial at Audible.co.uk
The Modern Scholar: The Incas: Inside an American Empire
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images

The Modern Scholar: The Incas: Inside an American Empire [Audio Download]

by Terence N. D'Altroy (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
List Price: £37.61
Price:£19.75, or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial membership
You Save:£17.86 (47%)
At Audible.co.uk, you can choose to download any of 60,000 audiobooks and more, and listen on your Kindle™, iPhone®, iPod®, Android™ or 500+ MP3 players.
Your exclusive Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial membership includes:
  • This audiobook free, or any other Audible audiobook of your choice
  • Save up to 80% off the price of the CD equivalent
  • Members-only sales and promotions

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £17.18   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £20.89   -- --
Audio Download, Unabridged £19.75 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 7 hours and 47 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: Recorded Books
  • Audible Release Date: 22 Sep 2008
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002SPXLHE
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

    •  Would you like to give feedback on images?

Product Description

In the land of Tawantinsuyu (The Four Parts Together) the Incas reigned in the late 15th century over the greatest empire ever seen in the independent Americas. Their territory included parts of the present-day countries of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Yet we know little of these people, especially from firsthand written accounts.

This course introduces the Incas, a small ethnic group from the southern Peruvian highlands, who forged a civilization rich in material and culture and expanded their domain to control large expanses of territory in a short period of time through diplomacy, enculturation, and military force.

A Powerful Story and a Potent Legacy

The story of the Incas is a powerful one, and their legacy remains a potent influence in the Andes of South America. In this insightful lecture series, Columbia University professor Terence D'Altroy focuses on Inca life at the height of the empire, the society's origins, its military, religion, ruling structure, and finally, the Inca legacy today.

©2004 Terence N. D'Altroy; (P)2004 Recorded Books
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
On Friday, November 15, 1532, a force of 168 frightened Spaniards walked into the maw of the most powerful empire ever seen in the Americas. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Incorporating much of the most recent research into Inca history and society, Terence D'Altroy's work is undoubtedly the best (and most readable!) of the serious introductory texts in the field. He covers the various aspects clearly and thoroughly, elucidating the complexities of the historical narrative, social organisation, and economic production, alongside information on ritual practice, accounting methods, architecture and geography. We are given a synthesis of modern research, together with an awareness of how much remains to be understood, such the _khipu_ rope-knotting techniques that the Incas used to record the movement of goods and transmit laws.

There is a wealth of black-and-white photographs and near-contemporary illustrations, and D'Altroy makes extensive, judicious use of both archaeological finds and written sources (native and Spanish) from the decades immediately after the Conquest. The slant is primarily historical, and while - as with any study of Andean history - anthropological theory enters the picture, this is rather less jargon-filled and abstract than the average ethnographic study, but instead shows awareness of historical change and social evolution.

Extremely useful.

Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  10 reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Best overview currently available 1 Mar 2003
By N. Clarke - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Incorporating much of the most recent research into Inca history and society, Terence D'Altroy's work is undoubtedly the best (and most readable!) of the serious introductory texts in the field. He covers the various aspects clearly and thoroughly, elucidating the complexities of the historical narrative, social organisation, and economic production, alongside information on ritual practice, accounting methods, architecture and geography. We are given a synthesis of modern research, together with an awareness of how much remains to be understood, such the _khipu_ rope-knotting techniques that the Incas used to record the movement of goods and transmit laws.

There is a wealth of black-and-white photographs and near-contemporary illustrations, and D'Altroy makes extensive, judicious use of both archaeological finds and written sources (native and Spanish) from the decades immediately after the Conquest. The slant is primarily historical, and while - as with any study of Andean history - anthropological theory enters the picture, this is rather less jargon-filled and abstract than the average ethnographic study, but instead shows awareness of historical change and social evolution.

Extremely useful.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Synthesis 2 May 2003
By R. Albin - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book is intended as a synthesis of information on the Inca state. Written both as an introductory book for the broad reading public and as a benchmark for scholars, this book distills historical, archaeologic, and ethnographic information into a single nicely organized and written volume. D'Altroy, an archaeologist who has worked extensively in the Andes, covers the prehistory and history of the Inca state, its social and political organization, its religous ideology, and its material culture. The judicious use of historic sources, largely post-Spanish conquest writings, combined with archaeologically derived information is excellent. The writing is free of academic jargon and D'Altroy provides a comparative perspective by sparing but insightful comparisons with other pre-modern empires. It is difficult to write a book that will be interesting to general readers and useful to scholars but D'Altroy has done an excellent job of serving two masters. I've read other books on the Incas and this is beyond question the best single volume on this topic.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Thorough 25 Aug 2004
By Atheen M. Wilson - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Professor D'Altroy, a UCLA graduate in 1981, is director of the Columbia Center for Archaeology and professor of anthropology at Columbia University. His specialty is the Inca, and this volume is a cumulative description of current research on that topic.

The Incas is a thorough description of the land and people of the region, including groups and empires that preceded the Inca. Written sources for the information are analyzed for their contemporaneity, reliability, and bias, while archaeological data are used to clarify these accounts where possible. The author discusses not only the rise and fall of the empire but the social order and political and religious ideology as well.

The notes to the chapters are interesting in themselves, as they provide additional information that addresses questions that seem to arise from natural curiosity about the details of events. My favorites had to do with the claimed ages of witnesses to events and those claimed for various emperors. The bibliography is truly amazing and contains entries of almost every copyright date, many annotated, recently printed volumes of early explorers' accounts. A casual perusal of the entries suggests that most of these date to 1558 and later. Some of the secondary entries and most of the primary sources are in Spanish, although there are more than enough in English to answer to the needs of the interested. Periodicals are a significant portion of the bibliography, however, and some of these may be difficult to find unless one has access to a large university library. Most of the modern book entries date to the late 1970's, although some of historical interest or significance date to the earlier years of the 20th Century.

The book is easily accessible to the average reader with an interest in Native Americans, the Incas, anthropology, archaeology, political history, social history, Spain in the New World, and cultures in conflict.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Look for similar items by category


Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2012, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates