The Modern Scholar: The Incas: Inside an American Empire

This is pretty well-written, well-researched, and comprehensive; as written a great introduction to the Incas with just enough scholarly discussion of reliability and ambiguity of the numerous source materials. Both "traditional" and modern scholarship on the Incas are well-represented. Overall, I'd highly recommend this to anyone wanting to learn about the Incas, for anyone who wants to brush up, or for Andeanists who might be familiar with all this, but still find having it whispered in their ear comforting.

The recording itself has various problems, such as repeated sections, but nothing too terrible. The reading is not bad, but seems a bit like the recording process was rushed and a little uncomfortable for Dr. D'Altroy. The pronunciation of Quechua words is surprisingly horrible for someone who spent years doing fieldwork in central Perú.

So... give it a listen! If you have knowledge of Quechua just laugh a bit; if you don't, please don't use this as a reference for its pronunciation!

After reading this books reviews I was curious if I would be wasting my money In buying it. I needed something for my upcoming trip to Machu Picchu so I decided to give it a shot (good decision). One of the things that I liked about this lecture series was the size, 14 lectures. I needed a quick listen because I had booked my trip on the fly and time was running out, most of this would be listened to in airports and planes.

So the audio book was fine to Fantastic, and It was worth the purchase. I
think there may be a difference in my review because of my mission, as a
trained areonautical engineer you focus on mission and when reviewing this I needed: backgrund on the incas, background on cuzco, background on the inca trail, cultural understanding and the inca story.

I think this is a tall order for any lecture series! However, the book delivered on it all, as I sit in my Lima hotel room Getting ready for my last day out in the city of kings, before heading to the states, I had to pause and give the author a "Very Well Done." My trip Peru would not have been the same without this lecture series.

The material was clear, interesting and kept my attention, moreover it was needed as the storys you will get told from guides will vary and you need a baseline. When I travel I like to have the history on a place, So if you plan on doing a little research on a trip and want the benefit of a person that is obviously very educated on the topic then get this audio book, if you just like to learn get this book. Personally I find learning very entertaining. While the lecturer could have been a better storyteller it was not bad, not bad at all. I strongly recommend this title.

This program is interesting and the content is reasonably comprehensive, although because of its breadth, details were only briefly presented, which in turn, leads me to the next aspect: books to compare.

Rather than compare, I would suggest people listen to the "Last Days of the Incas", before taking this lecture. That book is more paced and the author takes its time describing details more thoroughly. It will help with understanding Professor's D'Altroy's lecture.

Some parts were very interesting, other parts were told in a way that made it difficult to follow. There are also 2 or 3 mistakes in cutting of the audio book, which do not make the material unintelligible, but still, shouldn't be there.
All in all, it's not a bad audio book, but there are better pieces from Modern Scholar.

The author’s knowledge of ancient Inca culture is most impressive but he fails to deliver it - in an interesting manner – to his audience. Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs for example, was written and presented extremely well by Barbara Mertz and Lorna Raver respectively. This audio book was extremely difficult to listen to and there were moments where I literally dreaded to switch it on. A note to Modern Scholar – Please hire professional narrators!

I was planning to travel to Peru this year but have postponed it in favour of Greece. The reason being that this audio book has put me off Peru and I need time for it to be diluted from my memory. Machu Picchu, don’t go anywhere.

very nice job with a complex story that requires a very scholarly approach to the subject.

A wasted Credit. - borrrrrring