Review by Choice Review
Well-organized and edited, this compendium features articles by highly qualified scholars on many early documents for Andean studies. Volume 1 offers 29 chapters about classes of documents, intellectual history, and concepts to provide cultural context for documentary sources discussed in volumes 2 and 3. The work also calls attention to classes of lesser-known unpublished documents about indigenous peoples and individuals. Articles are referenced in notes and include bibliographical references. Seven maps show political boundaries and principal cities of modern South America, the Inca Empire, and Spanish viceregal divisions of Spanish South America through 1800 or so. Cross-references for sources mentioned in background articles and featured subsequently would have been helpful, but this is a minor quibble. Volumes 2 and 3 have separate and continuous paging for 186 entries on specific authors and documents in alphabetical order by author or manuscript name.Coverage spans the 16th to 19th centuries, ending with precursors of Andean archaeology, but emphasizing 16th-century sources. Circumstances of origin and current location are given for sources, with references to published editions in the original language, translations, and secondary sources. Although contributors will be familiar to Andean studies specialists, readers would have benefited from author affiliation and contact information. This set includes a preface, editorial notes, indexes (volume 1 for background and volume 3 for source articles), and a glossary. It is an indispensable resource for Andean studies programs and institutes, and for colleges, universities, and cultural heritage and research institutions offering anthropology, archaeology, history, art history, Andean, or Latin American studies. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. K. Cleland-Sipfle Southern Oregon University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
