1) Baudin, Louis.  Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas.  trans. Winifred Bradford.  New York:  The
         Macmillan Company.  1961.

Note: This book gives an in depth insight into the lives of the Inca from the century or so preceding Spanish rule up until the conquistadors arrived.  It covers topics like the Supreme Inca, the Inca nobility, the Inca warriors, religion, intellectual and artistic life, as well as the life of the common people under Inca rule.  Under this last heading information can also be found on agriculture and fishing, the family (including the role of women), craft makers, and bartering.  Basically it covers everything about the Inca society at the time of the Spanish arrival.

2) Burns, Kathryn, “Gender and the Politics of Mestizaje: the consent of the
        Santa Clara in Cuzco Peru,” The Hispanic American Historical Review,
        v.78vol (February1998).

Note: A short but effective examination of gender relations among the Spanish and between the Spanish and the Inca.  Focuses on the Cuzco community but draws larger conclusions from its example.  Offers good anecdotes and some limited statistical information.  Excellent compliment to an issue that is discussed in limited detail elsewhere.

3) Cook, Noble David.  Born to Die.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Although this book does not focus exclusively on the Spanish Conquest in Peru, it provides to chapters on the devastating effect of disease on the Incan population.  One chapter describes pandemics of small pox and measles while the next chapter discusses the regional outbreak of diseases.  This book is sympathetic view of the natives and the devastation, which they experienced at the hands of the Spanish.  Also, it explains how the effect of disease fostered the Spanish conquest and weakened the power of the Incas.

4) Davies, Keith A., Landowners in Colonial Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984.

Note: Excellent source for specifics of what life on Peruvian plantations was like.  Gives excerpts from Spanish Hacienda owner’s books and discusses important issues such as division of labor, ethnic relations, political control and relationships between the New World Spanish and the throne or sponsoring companies.

5)De La Vega, Garcilaso. Royal Commentaries of the Incas [1609]. Austin: University of Texas Press,
        1966.

Note:  The two volumes in Pickler provide excellent primary resources to augment the material found in other books.  However, there are two problems with this source.  The first is that it jumps from one local to another, often without making the transition clear.  The second is that there is limited use of specific dates, making it hard to fit the stories into other research.

6) de Montellano, Bernard Ortiz. Caida de Mollera: Astec Sources for a Mesoamerican
Disease of Alleged Spanish Origin. “Ethnohistory.” Vol. 34, Fall 1987, 381-99.

Note: This article looks at the disease brought by the Spanish conquerors and how they have developed in South America.

7) Gabai, Rafeal Varon., Fransisco Pizarro and His Brothers: The Illusion of Power in
        Sixteenth-Century Peru. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.

Note: Outstanding source for the initial stages of Spanish Conquest.  Invaluable in understanding the competition between the initial conquistadors and the foundations of Spanish-Indigenous relations.  It provides colorful accounts and important details.  The only draw back is that it often becomes to detailed.  It is best used for its vivid accounts of life in the initial stages of conquest.
 

8) Kirkpatrick, Frederick A., The Spanish Conquistadors 2ed. New York: Barnes and Nobles, 1967.

Note:  This text provides a vast overview of the Spanish Conquistadors, from Magellan to the 17th century.  This book, along with its author, is considered to be landmarks in this area of history.  It gives a good picture of the situation in Spain, and where the Peruvian conquistadors fit into the larger picture.  It is excellent for understanding the overview, general themes and larger trends of the Spanish conquistadors.

9) Kizca, John.  “Native American, African, and Hispanic Communities during the Middle
        Period in the Colonial America.”  Historical Archeology 31 (1997): 9-17.

 This article provides key information regarding the unique economic role of mestizos in colonial society and the flexibility of the term itself.  First, mestizos benefited from their Spanish acculturation within the workforce.  Due to the growing economic sophistication, the need for untrained workers was decreasing in many fields.  Thus, mestizos were able to obtain training and skills in order to feel a productive and respectable niche.  At the same time, this article emphasizes the flexibility of the classification of mestizo.  The categories of people were based more on social standing than racial distinctions.  For example, children were often absorbed into either the Spanish or Indian culture fully, instead of being treated as a mixed person.  Also, economic success and prestige could allow one to move within the varying statuses.  Thus, a well to do Indian could be considered a mestizo.

10) Lockhart, James. The Man of Cajamarca: A Social and Bibliographic Study of the First Conquerors
        of Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972.

Note:  Similar in nature to Francisco Pizarro and His Brothers.  It is rich in anecdote and primary information.  It focuses on a variety of individuals and allows the reader to get a good picture of how the different levels of Spanish developed and interacted in the New World.  This source gives a good account of conditions in the New World as well as the efforts of the Spanish to confront them.  Again, this source is very effective for its use of primary information.

11) Lockhart, James.  Spanish Peru.  Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.

 The book discusses the unique role of mestizo children within the family structure.  Due to the fact that there was no standard level of acceptance, children were treated differently on an individual basis.  While some Spanish fathers openly welcomed and acknowledged their children, others were left in the care of the Indian mother.  One unique relationship that developed frequently was the connection between the Spanish wife and her husband’s illegitimate children.  Often fathers would want their children to benefit from a Spanish upbringing, so the mother would care for these children along with her own.  Also, the mestizo children had to deal with the problem of being illegitimate, which could be a larger issue than being biracial at times.  This was particularly the case for the first generation of mestizos, of whom 95% were illegitimate.

12) Miller, Marilyn.  “Covert Mestizaje and the Strategy of “Passing” in Diego Munoz
        Camargo’s Historia de Tlaxcala.”  Colonial Latin American Review 6 (1997): 41-58.

Through comparing the work of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Mexican chronicler Diego Munoz the reader can observe how these men dealt with being mestizo and how it affected their perception of colonial events.  Being mestizo, both had the unique opportunity to observe events through the eyes of the conqueror and the conquered.  Unlike Camargo, Garcilaso de la Vega openly acknowledges the fact that he is mestizo and that it affects his perception of events.  Instead of trying to fit into the Spanish mindset, he accepts the fact that he has sympathies for both sides.  This article provides the reader with different reactions to being mestizo and how these men grappled to accept and create their own identity.

13) Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, Maria.  History of the Inca Realm.  trans. Harry B. Iceland.
        Cambridge, U.K.:  Cambridge University Press.  1999.

Note: This book is an excellent resource about Inca culture.  It includes information on how the Inca culture came to be and gives background as to how and why it formed the way it did.  It also gives a detailed accound of the social structure of the Incas, including the role of women within it.  This source has a little bit of everything in regard to the Inca, i.e. their religion, society, culture, politics, and economy.

14) Silverblatt, Irene.  Moon, Sun, and Witches:  Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial
        Peru. Princeton: Princton University Press, 1987.

Note: This book is an excellent source if one wants to know about the role of women in Andean culture.  It covers pre-Inca societies as well as early colonial society and how the changes during this period affected the roles and lives of all indigenous women.  It covers the dual gender roles of Inca culture, the political role of women, the role of the coya, or Inca queen and a multitude of other topics relating to women including the acllas and mamaconas.  This is one of the best sources to be found on the topic of women in Andean society and it also covers Inca society in general.

15) Simon, Joel. Prophecy, Plague, and Plunder: Five Hundred Years Ago the Aztecs Lived in
Fear of Ecological Doom.  Then the Spaniards Arrived. “Amicus Journal.” Vol.
19, Spring 1997, 28-33.

Note: Simon discusses the downfall of the Aztecs and how disease brought by the Spanish affected them.  He looks at two different times, during the conquest and post Spanish.

16) Stern, Steve J. Peru’s Indian People and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest. Madison: University
            of Wisconsin Press, 1982.

Note:  Excellent source for understanding the Indian perspective of conquest.  It examines in detail the life that was so disrupted by the conquistadors.  It also offers a good amount of detail on Spanish-Indian relationships, the transfer of power and the manipulation of the indigenous population.  It will be critical in examining the section of the projects relating to the effects of Spanish conquest on indigenous institutions and traditions as well as relationships between the two groups.

17) No known author. "The Conquest: 1519.” The Economist, vol. 3, no. 8151(1999), 55-56.

Note: This abstract discusses Spanish conquests.  It looks at how the Spanish defeated the native peoples through different techniques.  The most important thing it discusses is the aspect of disease and how it enabled the Spanish to more easily conquer the natives.