The vast popular insurrection that shook the southern Andes in the early 1780s has long been known to historians and the broader public as the “rebellion of Túpac Amaru.” The seemingly unassuming title of Sergio Serulnikov's masterful new book subtly points to several of its crucial contributions. First, contrary to widespread assumptions, this movement was not merely an overblown tax revolt, a reaction to Bourbon fiscal impositions in the 1770s, or a nostalgic attempt to restore a legitimate colonial order. Serulnikov makes a powerful case that it constituted a radical anticolonial revolution. Second, it was not simply a revolt in Cuzco that generated peripheral repercussions elsewhere. Serulnikov shows brilliantly how the movement unfolded in multiple theaters, beginning with the region of northern Potosí and concluding with the region of La Paz, both in current-day Bolivia. Third, and linked to this point, the insurgent leadership was dispersed among Indian men and...

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