I was highly intrigued upon hearing that Laurent Binet's new novel was an alternate history in which the Incas invade Southern Europe. His last book, [b:The 7th Function of Language|35610817|The 7th Function of Language|Laurent Binet|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515115679l/35610817._SY75_.jpg|71033745], was an absolute delight and I love an alternate history. However, they all struggle to match up to Kim Stanley Robinson's epic [b:The Years of Rice and Salt|2723|The Years of Rice and Salt|Kim Stanley Robinson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1419079388l/2723._SY75_.jpg|74882] and, while I enjoyed Binet's sly and politically intricate alternate universe, it didn't have the same depth and texture. The variation in narrative voices was interesting, but some definitely worked better than others. The chapters told in letters weren't as effective in my view, although I generally enjoy epistolatory fiction. Nonetheless the novel is a very entertaining thought experiment, asking how Europe could be invaded and ruled by the Americas rather than vice versa. Binet sets up the 16th century invasion via prior exposure to Vikings providing Incas with weapons and shipping technology, as well as resistance to European diseases.

There is considerable narrative tension as the small party of Incas try to survive and consolidate their position in Southern Europe. I enjoyed the ways they were able to exploit religious schisms and ally with political dynasties. Various historical figures pop up; Luther in particular doesn't come off well. The impact of the Inca economic and religious policies is extrapolated in a satisfying and interesting fashion, with attention to the peasants' grievances and uprisings of the time. The battle scenes are vivid and thrilling. Although I wasn't wholly convinced by all of the individual elements, overall the book was an involving and thought-provoking read. It's always pleasing to read a well-constructed counterfactual of colonialism. ( )

Very clever. ( )

Laurent Binet’s Civilizations is an exercise in alternate history, or if you like, counterfactual history, beginning with a reimagined settlement of the New World by a band of Vikings. The narrative is clear and logical, but it is not really a novel. It sees events from 20 thousand feet and never gets us particularly close to any of its characters.
The story begins with a voyage by Eric the Red’s daughter and her encounter with Mesoamerican Indians. The Vikings enrich their new home with iron-working, draft animals, and wheeled vehicles. Columbus’s trip west ends badly, leaving the hulks of two of his ships weathering on the beach. The Mayan leader, Atahualpa, reverse engineers them and launches a transatlantic expedition to Europe. He arrives in Lisbon in time to capture Charles V, head of the Holy Roman Empire, and conquer a disorganized Europe—at least until the Aztecs show up.
The book ends with an account of the early adventures of Miguel Cervantes and his encounter with the essayist Michele de Montaigne. It is the most stylish part of the narrative, deftly parodying the styles of both writers. It could be read as a standalone sketch. ( )

I have been meaning to read Laurent Binet for a while now! I LOVED the idea, the concept behind this book. What would have happened if the events of certain historical visitors went slightly differently? Everything as a butterfly effect. Unfortunately, I am not a history buff so this sort of writing style gets very dense as a minefield of things I don't know. So it doesn't hit as well as it probably could have, if I knew my world history better. My fault! I was really hoping I would enjoy this more. There are probably a ton of fun historical easter eggs here, if you can spot them. History buffs can get more mileage out of this, I suppose. This very much reminded me of the book 'Sudden Death' by Alvaro Enrique. ( )

Fantasiosa y con poco interes. Lo unico curioso es la idea original que sostiene la trama. ( )

Well, that was lots of fun. A 'what if' of history retold. The Vikings went further than Newfoundland and reached the Caribbean, Columbus set sail but never returned to Europe with his discovery of the New World. In fact the 'New World' turned out to be Europe itself discovered by a small band of armed Incas. The conquistadors-in-reverse took on and conquered the continent. The emperor Atahualpa leading them. All the main characters of European history appear including Pedro Pizarro in a very different role, Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor, Queen Isabella, Henry VIII, Luther, Erasmus, Barbarossa, Michelangelo, Titian, Cervantes, El Greco and many others. Written in a very apposite, folkloric, simple style as well as being highly amusing it highlights some of the absurdities of European history of the time. Atahualpa himself is a very worthy hero. What if indeed. ( )

This is really more of a thought experiment than a novel. It asks the question: What would it take for the Incas to conquer Europe? The people of the Americas gain immunity to smallpox when Vikings explore all the way down the east coast and into [what is now] South America. When Christopher Columbus arrives, he is imprisoned and dies. One of two warring Incan factions take Columbus's ships back to Europe, and arrive in the aftermath of an earthquake in Lisbon in 1531. From there, through war, diplomacy, marriage, and trade, the Incas conquer Europe.

It's an interesting thought experiment, and I love how the story is flipped on its head. However, there are a lot of major logical flaws that make it really hard to swallow. For instance, the Vikings leave behind a few horses, and from there, Americans have a thriving population of horses. I have every respect for the technological prowess of the Incas, but still find it hard to believe that they could get on a ship and sail it accurately across the Pacific Ocean with no prior sailing experience.

The book covers several hundred years, so there is no time for character development, and the narrative gets pretty tedious at times.

I have read Binet's other books and found them to be funny, insightful, and well-written. This one is a big disappointment. It's fascinating to think about what might have happened if the Incas had conquered Europe instead of the other way around, but this book doesn't live up to the promise. ( )

A really fun story where each event in a very long series of events seems not unreasonable, and yet we end up with an entirely different version of history. ( )

I returned this novel to the library after slogging through the first 100 pages. While the section with Christopher Columbus' diary entries was entertaining, I was otherwise lost.

Again and again, when I read a highly praised mainstream novel that attempts a subject or technique that's more associated with a deprecated literary genre such as SF—in this case, an alternative or "counterfactual" world history—I find that it hasn't been done to the level that the fringe genre has led me to expect. In this case, the ideas are there, but the characters are only sketched, not fully drawn, and the plot is loose and careless. In addition, the authorial voice is inconsistent and irritating. There are obvious attempts to sound like a saga in the sections about the Norse or like scholars in the letters of Renaissance figures, but they're shaky and unconvincing. And in the more straightforward sections, the sentences and paragraphs are awful: short and simple to a fault, like a textbook written to an arbitrary grade-level standard. (This may be the translator's fault.) Reading this book was, in fact, as difficult as reading a mediocre high-school history textbook. That the events described are the opposite of what we know to have happened doesn't make it any easier. A very disappointing reading experience. ( )

"What-if" novel: Vikings in Panama; outcome of Columbus sailing to New World; largest section of novel Incas coming to Europe after a civil war; fate of Cervantes. Interesting premises but the Inca section much too long and bloated, taking up half the novel or more. I skimmed that part, skipping the lists and series of letters. Very readable translation from the French. ( )

Delightful, Imaginative, Clever

These are the three words that came to mind when I finished reading this entertaining revisionist historical fiction book by Laurent Binet, and adeptly translated by Sam Taylor.

Overall, this cleverly constructed counter-factual romp, set primarily in the sixteenth century, describes a world in which the Incas traveled across the Atlantic and dominated parts of Europe and encountered other empires, and/or budding empires.

Delightful in the history geek in me, enjoyed the combining the fictional characters and well-known historical figures to explore origin stories and the commonalities between empires and conquests.

Imaginative in the use of format and techniques to make the storytelling believable and the characters true to their nature for their time and culture.

Clever in that the story was thought-provoking for me as this revised past was relatable to the present and some of the same issues we are currently experiencing; the less fortunate were the ones that suffered during the upheavals due to the conquests, the role of religions being the dividing and too often used as a tool to manipulate the people to the wills of certain leaders.

While not a perfect book, I was certainly glad to read a book that included Inca and Aztec cultures which often do not have but a one sentence in history books and many never get to learn of the richness of these cultures.

I recommend this book to readers who like a historical, satirical, and parody slant to speculative stories that explore “what If …”. ( )

Laurent Binet writes books that play around with history. In HHhH, which I mostly liked with some reservations, he fictionalized the story of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich during World War II. In this book, his latest offering, he is not retelling an actual historical event. Instead, he has created an alternate history. Unlike many science fictional alternate histories I have read, there is a real emphasis on the history part here--he really gets down in the weeds with all the 16th/17 century rulers affected by his "alternate" account of history.

As prelude to the actual story, Binet proposes an alternate scenario in which a Viking woman, Freydis migrated much further south into the New World, settling into South America and assimilating with the indigenous people there. Later, when Christopher Columbus arrives, he is captured, incarcerated, and never returns to Europe. All of this is a set up for the main body of the book, which concerns the conquest of Europe by the Incas.

The conquest begins when the Inca ruler Atahualpa, at war with his brother and having heard of the kingdoms across the sea, flees in a fleet of ships with assorted soldiers, princesses, parrots, and his pet jaguar. Ultimately the ships arrive in a Portugal recently ravaged by a massive earthquake, and suffering under the Inquisition of the Catholic Church, suppressing the Jews, the Moors, and other unbelievers. Atahualpa reads the newest bestseller by a guy named Machiavelli, and he's off--his deeds documented by the likes of Michaelangelo and Titian.

It's all great fun for a while, although of course serious points about colonization and empires are raised. But after a while, I found it grew tedious. As I said Binet really gets into the weeds with reference to all the rulers of minor Duchys etc. Unfortunately, the library pulled this one back from me when I still had about 50 pages left to read, but I wasn't interested enough to put another hold on it in order to finish. From what I could tell from the Amazon reviews, there were no great revelations towards the end.

3 stars ( )

A fascinating retelling of world history with the Inca and later the Aztec coming to europe as conquerors or at least as equqls. Many historical figures and events are seen in a new light . I have to admire the author’s imagination. At times I wish he had clarified some events or relationships, but in the end it comes together well. ( )

What if Americans had invaded Europe in the sixteenth century instead of the other way round? We all know that tiny handfuls of Conquistadors managed to snag improbably large swathes of territory for Spain on the strength of a marginal technological advantage, a huge amount of luck, and a consciousness that they had nothing to lose. How might it have worked out if that playing-field had been slightly more level, and what consequences might it have had for Europe?

Binet's alternative branch of history starts out with the Vikings penetrating much further south along the American coast than is usually accepted, with a shipload under the command of Erik the Red's daughter Freydis (because, why not?) getting as far as Cuba, leaving a trail of antibodies, horses, ironworking skills and the worship of Thor behind them. As a result, Columbus has a bit of a hard time in the Caribbean and never gets home, but his Taino hosts have time to profit from his geographical knowledge and reverse-engineer his ship and firearms.

Some forty years later, in 1531, a couple of shiploads of Americans under the leadership of exiled Inca emperor Atahualpa and his Taino mistress Higuénamota arrive in Lisbon at a moment when the local authorities have been rather distracted by a devastating earthquake. And before anyone has fully realised what is happening, they have hijacked Charles V's empire in a kind of mirror-image of the way Hernan Cortés took over Montezuma's.

The novel is a lively romp in which just about anyone who was anybody in the sixteenth century has at least a walk-on part, and there are plenty of more and less subtle jokes buried in the text. In fact, I half suspect Binet of having put the whole complex structure together just so that he can have the Mexican conquerors build a pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre...

On a more serious level, as becomes clearer from the epilogue in which Cervantes and El Greco debate the relationship between humanist values and religious belief with Michel de Montaigne (again, because why not?), Binet is using the novel to make us think about what we really mean when we talk about "European civilisation," "the Christian tradition," and the like. The hybrid European/American empire he postulates for Atahualpa, in which Sun-worship is the state religion but Catholicism, Lutheranism, Judaism and Islam are all officially tolerated and the Inquisition has been abolished, is more liberal and humanistic in practice than any "traditional" European state of the the time, and it also manages to maintain European peace for an unprecedented length of time (until the Mexicans turn up and destabilise things again...).

An interesting and entertaining read, with some great characters, especially Higuénamota, who loves to shock people like Luther by appearing on formal occasions in her national costume (i.e. none). But I think it might have worked better if Binet had found a way to overcome the technical imbalance without requiring Americans to rely on knowledge they had got from visiting Europeans. Couldn't there have been a stray Chinese ship landing on the coast of Peru? ( )

Clever, but I am sure I missed a good deal of the richness of the story due to my limited knowledge of both the period in which the story takes place and the actual lives of some of the real people who appear in the novel. ( )

A brilliantly evocative re-imagining of history, with Columbus' expedition to the Americas leading to a Central American Indian conquering of Europe. I loved the vividness of the author's imagination, and the none-too-subtle swipes at the absurd and nonsensically-minute differences between Christian sects. While the alternate history is fascinating, it is rather distant, and it can be difficult to sustain an emotional connection to the characters. ( )

A Viking ship travels down the Eastern coast of America, spreading their genes, ironworking, horses and cattle. As a result, Columbus fails to establish the Spanish in the Caribbean, and instead it is an Incan army who conquers Spain...
Alternate histories are like a buffet, the author can pick and choose which events he wants to change without regard to the consequences and usually not looking beyond his own homeground. Still, it's an interesting concept to play around with and to see familiar historical figures having a completely different fate. There's also a little satisfaction to see Charles V treated exactly like Atahualpa. But I think this sort of intellectual game would work even more rewardingly if it were played by a descendant of the Andean tribes. ( )

Wir alle haben sie studiert, die Geschichte Europas und die Eroberung der Welt. Mutige Männer, die dahinsegelten, um ferne Länder zu entdecken und zu unterwerfen, um ihnen die zivilisierte Hochkultur der alten Welt nahezubringen. Was aber wäre gewesen, wenn alles ganz anders verlaufen wäre? Die Wikinger noch vor Kolumbus Südamerika entdeckt hätten und die Inkas sich gen Osten aufgemacht hätten, um erst Portugal und dann ganz Europa zu unterwerfen? So manch ein Herrscher hätte nicht schlecht gestaunt, ebenso die Vertreter der Heiligen Kirche – und deren Gegner. Ein fuchsteufelswilder Luther muss zusehen, wie statt seiner Thesen die Kunde des Sonnengottes angeschlagen und damit der neue Glaube besiegelt wird.

Laurent Binet ist ein Meister darin, die Geschichte neu zu erfinden und einen alternativen, wenn auch bisweilen aberwitzig anmutenden Verlauf zu schildern. Schon mit „Die siebte Sprachfunktion“ konnte er mich restlos begeistern, nun beschränkt er sich nicht auf die kleine Welt der Linguisten, sondern geht ans Eingemachte. Und das wieder einmal mit präziser und messerscharfer Beobachtungsgabe und pointierten Formulierungen.

„Doch die Geschichte lehrt uns, dass wenige Ereignisse es der Mühe wert erachten, sich rechtzeitig anzukündigen, darunter manche, die sich jeglicher Vorhersage entziehen, und dass letztlich die allermeisten sich damit begnügen, einfach einzutreten.“

So manches in der europäischen Geschichte wäre uns erspart geblieben oder schlichtweg besser gelaufen, hätten wir Binets Version der Historie erlebt. Die Inquisition beendet, Toleranz zum leitenden Motiv gemacht und Frieden, der eigentlich immer nur ein Traum war. Daneben wird das heliozentrische Weltbild per Dekret verordnet und die Mystifizierung der jungfräulichen Braut und der unbefleckten Empfängnis ein Schlusspunkt gesetzt.

Viele große Namen haben ihren Auftritt in dem Roman, der 2019 mit dem großen Preis der Académie française ausgezeichnet wurde. Man kann immer wieder nur schmunzeln, wie Laurent Binet uns einen Spiegel vorhält und die Absurditäten aufzeigt, die wir als gegeben hinnehmen. Virtuos reihen sich sie Ereignisse aneinander, die bekannte und belegte Fakten neu interpretieren. Diesbezüglich finde ich den deutschen Titel leider auch etwas zu begrenzt, es geht nicht nur um „Eroberung“, sondern wie das Original schon sagt, um die Frage, was eigentlich „Zivilisation“ sein soll und vor dem Hintergrund von Inquisition, Kreuzzügen und Imperialismus ist diese mehr als berechtigt. ( )

SPOILERS -
So do not go any further if you do not want to know what's in the book.
****
****
Two-direction fantasy about what might have happened - what if Columbus had been caught & killed, the Old World never receiving news of his voyage; what if New World people had commandeered Columbus's ships & "found" the Old World? I read 40% of the book & found I just didn't care, so I quit reading. ( )