Examines a massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Lima and the coast of Peru in 1746 to analyze reaction to the event in terms of colonial culture and fears, and the dynamics of race, class, and religion in Lima.

Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Earthquakes, Tsunamies, Absolutism, and Lima 1
2. Balls of Fire: Premonitions and the Destruction of Lima 21
3. The City of Kings: Before and After 52
4. Stabilizing the Unstable and Ordering the Disorderly 74
5. Contending Notions of Lima: Obstacles to Urban Reform in the Aftermath 90
6. Licentious Friars, Wandering Nuns, and Tangled Censos: A Shakeup of the Church 106
7. Controlling Women's Bodies and Placating God's Wrath: Moral Reform 131
8. "All These Indians and Black People Bear Us No Good Will": The Lima and Huarochirí Rebellions of 1750 156
Epilogue: Aftershocks and Echoes 186
Notes 193
Bibliography 223
Index 251

Charles F. Walker is Professor of History and Director of the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Smoldering Ashes: Cuzco and the Creation of Republican Peru, 1780–1840, also published by Duke University Press.