Explaining the past helps us to understand the present, and even more so when dealing with a country as complex as Peru. Natalia Sobrevilla and Alberto Vergara will be the ones to undertake this challenge, in a conversation that will begin with their recent publications. Perú global, co-edited by Vergara and Adrián Lerner, is the first volume in a series to cover the issue of Peru in the world. Around 20 researchers analyse key moments from the country’s past, set in a global context. Sobrevilla has written about the life of Ramón Castilla in Los años de Castilla (1840-1865), telling us about the figure who was president of the republic on two occasions. In conversation with María Luisa del Río.