The Crimson Conquest: A Romance of Pizarro and Peru

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.6
Word count
753K words
Chapters
76

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyAdventure JourneyConquestPower GameAntiheroThrilling NarrativeInca EmpireExotic CultureColonial Era

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Crimson Conquest: A Romance of Pizarro and Peru by Charles B. HudsonAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Aug 28, 2016

Editor's review

This is a historical romance by Charles B. Hudson set against Pizarro’s conquest of Peru, classified under American and Canadian literature. The work places the Spanish conquistadors and the final years of the Inca Empire within a romantic narrative framework, combining expeditions, conflict, and exotic settings with the emotional threads typical of romance fiction. For readers who want a literary introduction to early colonial Latin America, it offers an accessible entry point: rather than the dense documentation of an academic history, it is driven by storytelling and suits reading in short sessions on a commute or before bed. As a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg, the text is easy to obtain, search, and excerpt. One caveat: its treatment of the conquest reflects the perspective of an older romance tradition, so readers should treat it as literature rather than reliable history and may compare it with historical background to appreciate the distance between narrative and fact. The English is somewhat archaic, with many long sentences, so it is best attempted by readers with some foundation in English reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read one chapter first to gauge the narrative pace and language difficulty, then decide between close and extensive reading.
  2. Mark historical figures and place names as you read, alongside concise background on the Inca and the conquest.
  3. Keep a separate record of romanticized episodes and historical facts to distinguish literary imagination from historical record.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
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  15. 15
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  19. 19
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  22. 22
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  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76

FAQ

Is this book a history or a novel? Judging by the subtitle and its classification, it is a romance set against Pizarro and the conquest of Peru, focused on story and romantic narrative rather than strict historical scholarship. Treat it as literature and consult histories for historical detail.
How difficult is the English? As an older public-domain English work, its language is somewhat archaic, with many long sentences and old-fashioned expressions; it is not for complete beginners. Readers with some English reading ability who can work through long passages with a dictionary will find it smoother.
Is it suitable for learning about the history of the Inca Empire? It can serve as an entry point of interest but cannot replace historical study. Its depiction of the conquest era serves the narrative; readers who want to understand Inca society and the colonial process should supplement it with reliable general histories.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

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