Monuments of the Incas

Great book

Awesome photographs taken years ago showing the mastery of masonry building by the Incas. Wish it was bigger, or had a volume two.

The Inca have captivated western imagination since the Conquest.Having spent time in Peru, I have always found it difficult to convey the sense of wonder that the Inca ruins awaken. This book does the best job of capturing the Inca mind as revealed by their architecture/sculpture/earthworks.Rarely have I found a book that incorporates photography and text as well as this one. Edward Ranney is a great photographer and John Hemming a great writer.Both have spent years in Peru. Hemming's " The Conquest of the Inca"" is the definitive account of the Inca and the Struggle with the Spanish. Together they have created a work that is remarkably free of western preconceptions. They give the reader a piccture of the Inca world in which art, ritual, architecture, cosmology and daily life were all one.

John Hemming has laid a lot of groundwork for other authors to utilize when they write about Incas. There are many books about the Incas so it is hard to say which are the best. One author presented a very readible treatise and it pretty much mirrored Hemmings scholarly works but the presentation was more enticing and it made you want to turn the next page to see what happens next. This book, "Last Days of the Incas" was a pleasant read but I was very annoyed when I looked in the back to see who he had referenced. I saw only one reference to Hemming.

Great service. Would use again

The photos are great and the descriptions were nicely intertwined with historical information. It is a huge book but makes for a nice coffee table conversation piece.

Beautiful book

Fabulous pictures. Made my visit to many of the ruins very special.

This excellent volume is full of high quality photographs with very clear and concise descriptions. It's very thought provoking and a pleasure to read.