A few days ago i finished reading "History of the conquest of Peru" by W. H. Prescott.
The book has five books or parts with 32 chapters and one appendix which contains documents and letters from the chroniclers and conquistadors, though most of them are presented in spanish.
The author gives a general overview of the inca culture and society in the first book or part. It doesn't contain too much detail for the person who want to know more about this culture, though it is useful if you just want to have an idea of the political, economical and social organization of these peoples before the arrival of the Spaniards.
However, from the second part until the last one, the author leads the reader to the events that changed history in this part of the world from the discovery of this "new" continent by the europeans until the middle of the XVI century.
The reader becomes a vivid witness of the lives and deeds of the main characters of this story, especially of the spaniard conquistadors whose leader was Francisco Pizarro. On the other hand, inca names or characters seldom appear, except of the last two incas Huascar and Atahualpa, and the inca who was enthroned by the spaniard: Manco Inca, who, at first, followed the foreigners, but after a few years, he run away from them and lay seige the capital of the inca kingdom, Cusco. Eventually he was defeated by the conquistadors and so this original and unique culture.
However, history continues with the fight between the two conquistadors, Pizarro and Almagro. This civil war would spread the blood of Pizarros's brothers and Almagro's son too.
The spanish crown sent two emissaries to crack down this revolt. The first, Vaca de Castro, was defeated. The second, the clergy Blasco Nuñez de Vela was able to end this civil war in the batlle of Huarina in the middle of the sixteeth century.
Every event is told with minute detail by the author, so reading the book seems to be as watching the events with your own eyes.