Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra
"De La Puente offers a fascinating study of the emergence of a new indigenous self-made elite of deracinated provincials. Through savvy uses of literacy and control of indigenous urban courts and legal resources, these urban, upwardly mobile, artisanal and mercantile former ‘commoners’ came to completely displace the Inca elites. This study breaks new ground"
John Charles
The most comprehensive examination to date of the indigenous intermediary sector of colonial Peruvian society, which used Spanish and knowledge of the Spanish legal system to advocate for personal and collective interests. One would be hard-pressed to read another book as richly documented by published scholarship and archival findings.
Karen B. Graubart
In this creative and provocative study, we learn that mid-colonial Andean elites approached the Spanish crown not only to demand personal rewards (as we have long known) but also to promote a vision of a Nación Indica, a collective identity that emerged from the juridical construct of the República de Indios. This is certainly a fresh and novel reading of the colonial period, one that will stand out among other intellectual, legal, and social histories.
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra
De La Puente offers a fascinating study of the emergence of a new indigenous self-made elite of deracinated provincials. Through savvy uses of literacy and control of indigenous urban courts and legal resources, these urban, upwardly mobile, artisanal and mercantile former ‘commoners’ came to completely displace the Inca elites. This study breaks new ground