To Steve J. Stern, the 1492 arrival of Columbus in America "symbolizes a historical reconfiguration of world magnitude." The quincentennial of that event challenged Stern to reexamine the consequences and meanings of the European conquest of the Americas.

This expanded edition of Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest includes Stern's 1992 reflections on the ten years of historical interpretation that have passed since the book's original publication - setting his analysis of Huamanga in a larger perspective.