Lost City of the Incas

First published in the 1950s, this is a classic account of the discovery in
1911 of the lost city of Machu Picchu.

In 1911 Hiram Bingham, a pre-historian with a love of exotic destinations, set
out to Peru in search of the legendary city of Vilcabamba, capital city of the
last Inca ruler, Manco Inca. With a combination of doggedness and good fortune
he stumbled on the perfectly preserved ruins of Machu Picchu perched on a
cloud-capped ledge 2000 feet above the torrent of the Urubamba River. The
buildings were of white granite, exquisitely carved blocks each higher than a
man. Bingham had not, as it turned out, found Vilcabamba, but he had
nevertheless made an astonishing and memorable discovery, which he describes
in his bestselling book LOST CITY OF THE INCAS.