The White Rock

An Exploration of the Inca Heartland

Hugh Thomson

• Publisher: ABRAMS Press
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9781468302301
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

An explorer searches the Peruvian Andes for a lost ruin in "a gem of a book [that] transcends the travel writing genre" with fascinating Inca history ( Los Angeles Times ). A New York Times Notable Book With the backdrop of the ever-intriguing Andes mountains, Hugh Thomson explores the intoxicating history of the Inca people and their heartland. 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 Spanishconquistadoreswho destroyed the Inca civilization—and the eccentric characters he meets on his travels. 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for the White Rock
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Map of the Inca Empire
• Introduction
• Epigraph
• PART ONE
• PART TWO
• Inca Genealogy
• Chronology of the Inca Empire and Spanish Conquest
• Chronology of the Exploration of the Vilcabamba
• Glossary
• Select Bibliography
• Notes and References
• Index