The Jesuits were relative latecomers to Spanish America and their arrival in the Andes in the late 1560s seems to have posed an uncomfortable challenge to the secular establishment and the (mostly) mendicant Christian presence in the area. According to Blas Valera, the mestizo Jesuit who composed the account under review, the Society distinguished itself by the ‘patience, humility, obedience, charity, [and] fervent prayer’ of its members, who constantly rushed to their ministries ‘with hearts on fire’ (p. 99). Such an encouraging portrayal in turn allowed Valera to advance a refreshing reinterpretation of Andean religious practices in the light of the Thomist dictum that grace does not destroy nature but perfects it. In a manner unmistakably reminiscent of the work of that other illustrious mestizo, the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (who, incidentally, drew much inspiration from Valera's work), the mestizo Jesuit depicted pre-Hispanic rites as natural preparations for the faithful reception of the Christian Gospel. In the process he also advanced a virulent criticism of the methods of evangelisation allegedly deployed until then (an attack from which only the Dominicans and a handful of exceptional Franciscans and Mercedarians emerged unscathed), as well as a sharp and generally convincing refutation of the ‘official version’ – rehearsed by Valera, explicitly, through the writings of the influential Spanish lawyer, mine-owner and judge, Polo de Ondegardo, and, implicitly, through those of Valera's Jesuit superior, José de Acosta, whose sharp condemnation of Andean religions follows Polo closely and often verbatim. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Valera should have ended his days in Spain, accused of certain ‘crimes’, and that his account should have remained unknown until it was discovered in Cádiz in 1836, preserved in the private collection of Böhl de Faber. The treatise nevertheless makes truly engrossing reading, especially by opening a splendidly illuminating window into an unofficial tradition of gradual, piecemeal and accommodating methods of evangelisation. This unofficial tradition has been unjustly overlooked in the scholarly literature. Without it, however, modern Latin American Christianity would be entirely inexplicable. As Sabine Hyland puts it: ‘All too often English-speaking readers can have an unexamined prejudice that Spanish thinking in Peru was simply lockstep obedience to the Spanish inquisition. This text shows that there also existed pro-Indian voices … whose ideals of natural rights paved the way for the Enlightenment and more recent human rights formulations’ (p. 14). Readers should not, however, identify this tradition exclusively with the Jesuits: Valera's explicit acknowledgement of the Dominicans and a handful of other mendicants will need careful attention in future studies. Hyland's translation is as readable as it is faithful to the original, and it has the added advantage of coming with a helpful scholarly introduction, unobtrusive annotations, and a glossary of quechua terms. It is a most welcome companion to her excellent monograph on Valera, The Jesuit and the Incas (2003), and an indispensable primary source which will be enjoyed as much by scholars as by general readers.