The Jesuit and the Incas: The Extraordinary Life of Padre Blas Valera, S.J. (History, Languages & Cultures of the Spanish & Portuguese Worlds S.) - Tapa dura

"This is a beautifully written, deeply informed and highly informative work. . . . [Hyland] has cast a bright light into a corner of early colonial Latin American scholarship that we had all but abandoned hope of ever seeing into very clearly." ." .. . Hyland provides insight into the life of the Jesuit scholar, indigenous historian, teacher, and religious comparativist. Part history, part detective novel, the book plunges into various controversies: Christianity and indigenous Inca religion; Jesuits and the Spanish Crown; Valera's own mixed heritage; and even Valera and the Jesuits who imprisoned and then exiled him, despite his loyalty to the order. . . . Valera takes his place among ethnographers such as Acosta and Native rights advocates such as Las Casas, and Hyland's book provides captivating access to his unique contribution to history. Highly Recommended."--"Choice" "This is a beautifully written, deeply informed and highly informative work. . . . [Hyland] has cast a bright light into a corner of early colonial Latin American scholarship that we had all but abandoned hope of ever seeing into very clearly."-Gary Urton, Harvard University "[A] refreshingly lucid account of an important but poorly known figure in colonial Latin American history."-Richard L. Burger, Yale University

The story of the life and untimely death of a persecuted priest in colonial Peru and the controversy over mysterious, recently discovered documents about him