Peru wears its ancient cultures wrapped around in layers, like one of the mummified bodies so well preserved by the nitrates of its deserts. After his acclaimed book on the Incas, The White Rock, Hugh Thomson unwraps those layers to show how civilisation emerged so early and so spectacularly in this toughest and most arid of terrains. Many of the extraordinary cultures of Ancient Peru, from the lines of Nasca to the temple-cult of Chavin, buried in the mountains, and the great pyramids of the coast, have only started to give up their secrets and antiquity in just the last few years. As one archaeologist put it: 'Imagine if all the discoveries of Ancient Egypt had been made so recently - the finding of Tutankhamen's tomb, of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, of Abu Simbel - and you have some idea of the great excitement at what has been happening in Peru.' Hugh Thomson has been at the forefront of some of these discoveries himself, having made headlines with his work near Machu Picchu. Now he takes the reader on a journey back from the world of the Incas to the first dawn of Andean civilisation, to give an immensely personal and accessible guide to the wonders that have been revealed.

Cochineal Red

History

Hugh Thomson

Americas

Weidenfeld & N.

Old English Songs From Various Sources (Classic Reprint)

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Forgotten Books

Following in the footsteps of the explorers Gene Savoy and Hiram Bingham, Thomson set off into the jungle to find the lost city of Llactapat. This is the story of his journey to discover it via the interconnecting paths the Incas laid across the Andes.

The White Rock

Travel

Phoenix

Short Stories & Anthologies

Overlook

With the backdrop of the ever-intriguing Andes mountains, The White Rock, Hugh Thomson’s intoxicating history of the Inca people and their heartland, is a thrilling mix of information and adventure. The author, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and explorer, expertly weaves accounts of his own discoveries and brushes with danger with the history of those who preceded him―including the explorer Hiram Bingham, who discovered Machu Picchu; the twentieth century South American photographer, Martín Chambi; the poet Pablo Neruda; and the Spanish conquistadores who destroyed the Inca civilization―and the eccentric characters he meets on his travels.

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Abrams Press

A follow-up to The White Rock brings readers to remote sites in the central highlands of ancient Incan Peru to trace the rise and fall of pre-Inca civilization through the story of the author's family's relocation to a Yucay valley farm.

A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru

50 Wonders of the World: The Greatest Man-made Con

Quotes for the One I Love

Robert Frederick. Ltd.

Nanda Devi: A Journey to the Last Sanctuary

Hachette India

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Books by Hugh Thomson