First published in 1970 and later republished. It starts with a brief background to the Spanish expansion in the Americas, including their discovery of the Aztec empire in Mexico in 1519 and their awareness of the Inca empire in 1526. The Inca empire was still expanding when it was discovered by the Spanish. Some of the more recently conquered tribes, the memory of theri conquest still fresh, turned against the Inca and supported the Spanish. The Spanish conquest began in the 1530s and was completed in 1572. The author used many accounts, written by people who were there at the time, found in libraries and museums. If you're interested in this part of world history I recommend this book. It includes extracts from an autobiography written for one of the last Incas, Titu Cusi Yupanqui. The stark contrast between a man on a horse dressed in armour and armed with a lance and a steel sword against an unarmoured man on foot armed with a sling and carrying a spear puts you in the mind of a man versus a tank.