History of the conquest of Peru (Volume II)

Gold, faith, and steel collide in the high Andes as William H. Prescott carries his celebrated account into the decisive years of the Spanish conquest of Peru. Power changes hands; lives shatter. Volume II follows the tightening grip of Spain over a fractured realm, tracing the fateful choices of Pizarro and conquistadors against the vast inheritance of Inca empire history and the realities of the 16th century Andes. Written with the pace of narrative nonfiction history and the discipline of a major historian, Prescott shapes chronicles and archival testimony into an unabridged classic history of conquest, governance, and consequence. Here are the beginnings of colonial Peru history: competing claims, shifting alliances, and the human cost of Spanish empire expansion during the age of discovery history. First published in the nineteenth century, Prescott's Peru remains a landmark for its literary force and its influence on how the Anglophone world read Latin America. Prescott balances daring enterprise with moral unease, attentive to greed, belief, and the fragile machinery of rule, making the narrative a steady guide for academic history research reference as well as reading pleasure. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern public domain history edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike. For casual readers, it is sweeping, dramatic history; for classic-literature collectors, a cornerstone; and for Latin American history students, an academic history research reference that still rewards close consultation.