This historical account documents the expedition led by Francisco Pizarro in the 16th century to conquer the Inca Empire. Drawing on primary sources and eyewitness accounts, the author provides a vivid and compelling narrative of one of the most significant events in Latin American history.
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In reading this book, I finally figured out why I struggle with the wordsmithing in non-fiction written in the late 1800s to early 1900s. When there is too much flowery language, I wonder what is real and what is literary license. I am deciding that I need to read non-contemporary non-fiction as creative non-fiction. I may enjoy it more then.
As far as the Pizarro book goes, it was mostly interesting. I have known a lot more about Cortes than Pizarro. I did find it interesting that Ober didn't seem to be much of a fan of Pizarro's. It's not often that someone writes a biography who doesn't like the person he's writing about. I was also surprised that Ober was so sympathetic to the plight of the indigenous people. I thought there was still a lot of prejudice and animosity towards Native Americans in 1906 when this was written. The brief search I did on Ober said that he was a naturalist, which may have something to do with it.
While I wouldn't describe this as a hard read per se, it a bit laborious wading through the fluff. However, it did give a decent overview of Pizarro's life.
More like a report and not like a story. More about the facts and less about the intriguing details of the cultural interaction and the inks that I personally was interested in. However, it was still interesting to learn about the first European travels to South America and what happened.
This history/biography is quite condensed: thirty plus years of Pizarro's life in 160 pages. It covers the abominable exploits and treacheries of Pizarro and his brothers, and other Spaniards on the natives of South America, and then against each other.
John Hemming's "The Conquest of the Incas", that I read years ago, tells the story more in full.