Civilizations

Author's name: Laurent Beny

In this novel, Laurent Binet reshapes history and turns worlds around, making the old world new and the new old. He starts from a fundamental idea: "What if the Spanish hadn't conquered South America, and instead the opposite had happened, and the Incas had conquered Europe?" He gives us a vision of what the world would look like based on this hypothesis. But before we can be carried away by this hypothesis, we must give the Incas the means that would enable them to conquer the world: "iron, horses, and self-immunity."
Civilizations is a profound novel that prompts thought and a reconsideration of world history. In it, the academic Benny demonstrates his creative prowess at a high level. He infuses it with greater realism, emulating the letters of Thomas More, Erasmus, and Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, all in keeping with his new formulation of history. He devotes much of the novel to reflections on religion, agrarian reform, and, of course, conquest. Benny appears bold in his ability to pose such a question, and to know how far the "conquest" and its consequences can be reduced. He gives himself the freedom of imagination, inserting historical figures into the events of his "imaginary" novel, and assigning each a role in a new world with different features, forces, and conflicts.