649. The Fall of the Incas: The Last Emperor (Part 6)

Context:

The hosts quote extensively from this play throughout the episode, using Old Martin's narration as a framing device. Tom Holland mentions he was in a school production of it, playing Vicente de Valverde.

Context:

Described as a 'brilliant, brilliant book on the conquest of the Incas' that the hosts 'can't recommend too highly.' Quoted multiple times, including Hemming calling Manco 'an indomitable patriot' and his comparison of Vilcabamba to Lesotho, Swaziland, and Botswana.

Context:

Described as a 19th century American historian 'who Americans think is absolutely amazing' who 'wrote the most tremendously florid account of the conquest of the Incas.' His account of the Battle of Las Salinas is read aloud.

Context:

Mentioned as written in 1552, in which 'Peru features very prominently' and Las Casas 'casts it as a kind of genocidal destruction of a paradise' and 'casts the Incas as childlike, as peaceable.'

Context:

Described as 'a brilliant book' about 'the world after the discovery of the Americas,' mentioned in the context of discussing how silver from Potosí destabilized the global economy.