New from Yale University Press: Cuzco: Incas, Spaniards, and the Making of a Colonial City by Michael J. Schreffler.
About the book, from the publisher:
In the wake of the invasion and conquest of Peru in the early sixteenth century, Cuzco—the ancient capital of the Inca Empire—was reborn as a Spanish colonial town. Evidence of this transformation abounds on the streets and plazas of Cuzco today, where the distinctive stone walls and trapezoidal portals of the Inca capital stand alongside columns, arcades, and other architectural forms imported from early modern Europe. This book tells the story of Cuzco, considering the design and symbolism of the storied settlement known to the Inca ruler Atahualpa and his wife, Cuxirimay; the ritual foundation of Spanish Cuzco under the governorship of Francisco Pizarro and recorded by his scribe, Pedro Sancho; the devastation brought by siege and insurrection, and the eventual construction of a town replete with a cathedral, monasteries, and houses for elite Spanish and native Andean residents. A remarkable collection of sixteenth-century texts facilitates the reconstruction of this story: the writings of Pizarro’s secretaries, histories conveyed to Spanish translators by native Andeans, and the official reports and legal documents of colonial administrators. Enlivening these accounts are the architectural traces of the sixteenth-century town in present-day Cuzco, and a host of objects that convey this fascinating story of cultural contact and change.--Mashal Zeringue
