A Brief History of Peru
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 September 2009 21:48 Written by Greg Tuesday, 06 November 2007 22:16
Christine Hunefeldt, A Brief History of Peru (New York: Checkmark Books, 2004).By way of introduction to Brief History I'll share an anecdotal illustration of the book's value. When I bought my copy some years ago, I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $25. Now that the team has settled into prep. time with our supporting churches, we looked into a number of books that might benefit supporters interested in getting educated. Naturally, we looked up this one, but interestingly, Amazon had no copies in stock, and third party sellers started at $65. It's a classic case of supply and demand. There is a dearth of historical overviews of Peru in the English language, and Hunefeldt has done a fine job to boot. Since the publisher doesn't seem to be producing an overabundance of new copies, well...you get the idea.
The book is straightforwardly historical. It will be a tough read for those prone to sleepiness in history class. Still, at only 266 pages of body text, it is--as the title implies--a brief way of learning the basics for those not interested in getting bogged down. Overall, the book provides access to all the essential contours of Peruvian history, moving from pre-colonial civilizations to Alejandro Toledo's presidency. Hunefeldt strikes me as quite balanced in her presentation, though perhaps stronger on pre-modern history. As is often the case, history--particularly history in brief--amounts to war, major political events, and economics. Some sections feel more like a history of Peruvian presidencies. Yet, this tenor is happily interrupted at times by boxed asides on points of interest, such as excerpt on female camp followers during the war for independence or a quotation from a political critic contemporary to the period discussed. Captioned pictures are found throughout the chapters as well. Lastly, a number of appendices (Basic Facts About Peru, a Chronology, a Bibliography, and a Suggested Reading list) and a thorough index round out the volume. In sum, I can't say it’s worth $65 dollars, but it’s definitely worth a read if you're interested in Peruvian history. blog comments powered by Disqus
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