Death in the Snow

"In all the annals of Spanish conquests in the Americas, there is no one to compare with Pedro de Alvarado. This brutal conquistador took a fleet, and many reluctant Guatemalan Mayas, to muscle in on Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire. Defeated by forests, mountains, volcanic eruption, and adverse weather, Alvarado was bought off in a deal to rival one between modern Mafia families. George Lovell tells this lurid, little-known story with clarity and élan." John Hemming, author of People of the Rainforest: The Villas Boas Brothers, Explorers and Humanitarians of the Amazon