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McEwan, Gordon F. 2006 The Incas: New Perspectives. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. History Reference Online. Glossary, index, bibliography. Electronic book ISBN-13 978-1-85109-579-7.
The Incas: New Perspectives, written by Gordon McEwan in 2006 and now available in both print and e-book formats, is an encyclopedic reference work on the civilization of the Andes mountains of South America, the Inca Empire.
One of a series of electronic references published by ABC-Clio, The Incas is written in plain, matter-of-fact English and offers the latest information gleaned from historical references and archaeological studies on Inca society in terrific detail.
The Incas is part of a series called Understanding Ancient Civilizations. Currently the series includes texts on Ancient Canaan and Israel, The Ancient Greeks, The Ancient Maya, Ancient Mesopotamia, The Aztecs, and The Romans; and there are more on the way. Each of these has the same format, down to the same chapter headings, which should be great news for librarians and students of these civilizations.
The Heart of The Incas
The heart of The Incas is found in "Part 2: Inca Civilization". In this part, McEwan provides separate detailed chapters on the environmental setting; historical and chronological issues; origins, growth and decline of the civilization; economic structure of the state; social organization; political structure; religion and ideology; material culture; and intellectual achievements.
This part of the book is a terrific synthesis of information to date, making The Incas an indispensable tool for high school students and their libraries and teachers.
The remaining parts of the book are a brief overview of the Inca civilization and sources of the information in the book; and a discussion of current streams of archaeological theory and how they have impacted Inca research and researchers.
Format of the E-Book
The Incas: New Perspectives is available in both hard bound and e-book formats. The e-book format (which was what I reviewed) has its benefits: the reader has access to an open and clickable table of contents visible at all times. A built-in link to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus is quite useful. And, the book may be viewed in one of two formats: page view (each page an html version of a page in the traditional print format book) or entry view (each chapter on a separate html page).
A Few E-Book Format Quibbles
Although the book includes a detailed timeline, glossary and extensive bibliography, these items are not hotlinked within the text and thus are somewhat clumsy to use. If in the 'entry view' format, the reader can navigate with a couple of clicks to any of these and back again, using the table of contents and the 'back button' on one's browser.
But, if the reader chooses 'page view' the access is more awkward. Click on the glossary in the Table of Contents, flip through the pages until you find your entry and then either press the back button several times or enter the page number you were on, if you remembered to write that down. In addition, both formats use 'this page intentionally blank' entries and pages listing only the chapter title, which seems a tad bit anachronistic in an e-format.
The search engine is definitely a good feature: you can limit it to the specific title and search for occurrences of a particular word, or search across the entire catalog. But, unlike a typical index, if you're not certain how to spell Ollantaytambo, your search won't get you where you need to be. Fortunately, a standard index with hotlinked page numbers is included with the e-book.
Finally, there are many excellent images in the book; but they are in black and white only and it is not possible to enlarge them for closer examination.
New Perspectives: The Bottom Line
The Incas: New Perspectives is a terrific synthesis of what is currently understood about the Inca civilization, and certainly a must-have for generalists or students of the Inca. But, to be honest, I'm not entirely sold on this particular e-book format. The format definitely has potential, and as I say there are many good features, but it hasn't been fully realized.
Prices for the e-book version are variable, based on the institution, the number of copies, and whether you purchase a print copy at the same time. If I were a school librarian, I'd be certain to see if I could obtain these documents, which could provide students with plenty of information for school term papers. A generalist wanting a good up-to-date summary would also find the text useful--and it would make an excellent introductory text for an undergraduate course focusing on the Inca.
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