A key book on early South America is Edward P Lanning's Peru Before the Incas.
Huamán Poma de Ayala's 17th-century Letter to a King is an eloquent protest against Spanish abuses of indigenous peoples.

For an interesting account of the conquistadors, see James Lockhart's The Men of Cajamarca.
Mario Vargas Llosa, author of Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, among others, is the best known Peruvian novelist.

Inca-kola: a traveller's tale of Peru by Matthew Parris is a readable travelogue of a visit to Peru with a group of friends.

Nicholas Shakespeare's article 'In Search of Guzmán' in The Best of Granta Travel' is a brief but interesting account of a quest to meet the elusive leader of Shining Path. His novel The Vision of Elena Silves neatly fuses the romance and the political thriller.

Ronald Wright's Cut Stones and Crossroads: a Journey into the Two World's of Peru is a fine (out-of-print) travel book by a writer exceptionally well informed on both archaeological and contemporary issues.

The best book on the Incas is undoubtedly John Hemming's (out-of-print) Conquest of the Incas.

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