This boxed set of two encyclopedias charts the rise and fall of the ancient American empires - including the Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Olmec and Zapotec. It is an absorbing guide to the lost world of the peoples of the sun, their awe-inspiring history, myths and culture. You can explore dozens of vitally important World Heritage sites, including Teotihuacan, Cuzco and the Nazca lines. It describes burial practices, mummies, ritual sacrifice and the importance of gold as well as exploring the impact on native religion of the coming of Christianity. 1000 stunning photographs, statues, sculptures, paintings, maps and illustrations reveal an amazing visual history. This two-volume comprehensive and authoritative history describes the political, military and social world of ancient America. It explores the region's vivid mythology, including tales of creation, earth and sky; legends of the gods, goddesses and heroes; and stories of fertility, harvest and the afterlife. The first book focuses on the Maya and Aztec civilizations of Mexico and Central America, and the second on the Inca Empire that stretched the length of South America. Taking in many other cultures, this is a perfect introduction to the subject and also a stunning visual record of a fascinating period that has helped to shape our world. Read more

In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistadorFrancisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers,to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers ofPeru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpahad defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed withAtahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca.Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed -- due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa.Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Incacapital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and theconquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Butthe Incas did not submit willingly. A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards,inflicting heavy casualties and nearly wiping out the conquerors.Eventually, however, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandonthe Andes and flee to the Amazon. There, he established a hiddencapital, called Vilcabamba. Although the Incas fought a deadly,thirty-six-year-long guerrilla war, the Spanish ultimately captured thelast Inca emperor and vanquished the native resistance. Kim MacQuarrie lived in Peru for five years and became fascinated by the Incas and the history of the Spanish conquest. Drawing on both nativeand Spanish chronicles, he vividly describes the dramatic story of theconquest, with all its savagery and suspense. MacQuarrie also relatesthe story of the modern search for Vilcabamba, of how Machu Picchu wasdiscovered, and of how a trio of colorful American explorers onlyrecently discovered the lost Inca capital of Vilcabamba, hidden forcenturies in the Amazon. This authoritative, excitinghistory is among the most powerful and important accounts of the culture of the South American Indians and the Spanish Conquest. Read more

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. Read more

The art of classical Greece, and its political and philosophical ideas, have had a profound influence on Western civilization. It was in the fifth and fourth centuries BC that this culture - material, political and intellectual - reached its zenith, and it is this period that is examined in this book. This text is part of the "Fontana History of the Ancient World" series that also includes "Early Greece" by Oswyn Murray. Read more

'Fascinating' GREG JENNER'I couldn't put it down' JANINA RAMIREZ'Fabulous' NATALIE HAYNES'Alive with the spirit of adventure' RANULPH FIENNES'If you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing' DAN SNOWAncient shipwrecks in crystal seas, mythical princesses preserved in ice and astonishing lost rituals - this is the story of archaeology.Professor Michael Scott uncovers the true stories behind history's most monumental discoveries, unearthing traps, curses and buried treasure along the way. Full of extraordinary characters - from glory hunters to forgotten heroes - X Marks the Spot explores our love affair with the past. Read more

"For hundreds of years, the story of the legendary Inca city of Vilcabamba lay buried in old Spanish chronicles. The ancient records tell of a young Inca king, Manco Inca, who fled deep into the Amazon after the Spaniards conquered his empire. There Manco built a city in the jungle that held out for the next 36 years, until the Spaniards finally overwhelmed it in 1572.Kim MacQuarrie has fashioned an unforgettable history of the Spanish conquest, and the search for the lost city of Vilcabamba. "The Last Days of the Incas" brings one of the most heroic uprisings in history vividly back to life.""A Welcome addition to the literature...lively and dramatic." --The Washington Post"Fascinating and enthralling...Truly a work worth Inca gold." --History Magazine Read more

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. Read more

The Face of Battle is military history from the battlefield: an imperishable account of the direct experience of individuals at 'the point of maximum danger'. It examines the physical conditions of fighting, the particular emotions and behaviour generated by battle, as well as the motives that impel soldiers to stand and fight rather than run away. In this stunningly vivid reassessment of three battles, John Keegan conveys their reality for the participants, whether facing the arrow cloud of Agincourt, the levelled muskets of Waterloo or the steel rain of the Somme. Read more

'If you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing' DAN SNOW'A thrilling investigation' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB'Alive with the spirit of adventure' SIR RANULPH FIENNESThrough eight sensational stories of discovery, Professor Michael Scott traces the evolution of modern archaeology from colonial expeditions to today's cutting-edge digs, unearthing traps, curses and buried treasure along the way. We uncover why different periods and places have caught our attention and imaginations at different times. We meet the characters, some celebrated and some forgotten, who found world-famous discoveries like the Rosetta Stone, the Terracotta Warriors and Machu Picchu. We investigate ancient human footprints, stunning shipwrecks, mythical princesses and surprising rituals as keyholes to the wonders of past civilisations. And we unravel how archaeological finds have often become emblems of modern fascinations and dilemmas.Crossing millions of years, trekking from the jungles of South America to the frozen highlands of Central Asia, X Marks the Spot reveals how much the discovery of our past is intertwined with the concerns of our present and why X never, ever marks the spot.'Fascinating' GREG JENNER'An essential read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in exploring the past' JANINA RAMIREZ Read more

See 9780754834939 for new updated edition 2021. The history of the Incas fascinates the modern world. This groundbreaking book separates fact from fiction, exploring the native peoples of Peru and the Andes, their mythologies and ancient belief systems, and the amazing beauty of Inca art and architecture. It opens with the culture and history of its many kingdoms and their mythological rituals and beliefs. The second half of the book focuses on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people and the beautiful art they created, such as ceramics, gold- and silverwork, and fabrics. This authoritative volume combines over 1000 striking illustrations with lively and engaging text. An exploration of the political and social history, art, architecture, mythology and legends of the lost cultures of the Andes An in-depth history of the ancient peoples of South America including the Paracas, ChavÝn, Pukarß, Nazca, Moche, Wari, Lambayeque-Sipßn, Tiwanaku, Chimu and Inca Discusses the sophisticated politics, power and warfare with fascinating insights into the brutal rituals and symbolic complexity Discover the breathtaking developments in Andean art, from the mysterious lines etched in the Nazca desert to the ethereal beauty of the temples erected at Kotosh, La Galgada and Aspero, and many more This enthralling guide offers a rare insight into the everyday lives of the Inca people using evidence from archaeological excavation and preserved artefacts Over 1000 photographs, paintings, artefacts, maps and artworks bring the ancient cultures of the South America to vivid life Read more

This essay in cultural anthropology provides a comprehensive view of the way primitive people in all parts of the world once utilized knots; mnemonic knots―to record dates, numbers, and cultural traditions; magic knots―to cure diseases, bewitch enemies, and control the forces of nature; and practical knots―to tie things and hold things together.In his discussion of mnemonic knots, the author analyzes the Peruvian quipus (or knot-calendars and knot-records) and suggests that the Inca astronomer-priests, known to have been accurate observers of the movements of the planets, may also have been able to predict the dates of lunar eclipses; and he shows how it is possible to manipulate the Ina abacus in accordance with the decimal system.His treatment of magic knots includes instances from Babylonian times to the present, with curious examples of the supernatural power attributed to the Hercules knot (i.e., the square knot) in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. His analysis of a little-known treatise on surgeons’ slings and nooses, written by the Green physician Heraklas, is the first detailed account of the specific practical knots used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.Quipus and Witches’ Knots, which is abundantly illustrated, often surprises the reader with the unexpected ways in which the once universal dependence of men on knots has left its mark on the language, customs, and thought of modern peoples. Read more

A panoramic new history of the revolutionary decades between 1760 and 1825, from North America and Europe to Haiti and Spanish America, showing how progress and reaction went hand in handThe revolutions that raged across Europe and the Americas over seven decades, from 1760 to 1825, created the modern world. Revolutionaries shattered empires, toppled social hierarchies, and birthed a world of republics. But old injustices lingered on and the powerful engines of revolutionary change created new and insidious forms of inequality. In The Age of Revolutions, historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal offers the first narrative history of this entire era. Through a kaleidoscope of lives both familiar and unknown-from John Adams, Toussaint Louverture, and Napoleon to an ambitious French naturalist and a seditious Peruvian nun-he retells the revolutionary epic as a generational story. The first revolutionary generation, fired by radical ideas, struggled to slip the hierarchical bonds of the old order. Their failures moulded a second generation, more adept at mass organizing but with an illiberal tint. The sweeping political transformations they accomplished after 1800 engrained forms of inequality and racial hierarchy in modern politics that remain with us today. A breath taking history spanning three continents, The Age of Revolutions uncovers how the period's grand political transformations emerged across oceans and, slowly and unevenly, over generations. Read more

A highly illustrated and detailed study of one of the most important campaigns in the colonization of the Americas, the Spanish conquest of the vast Inca Empire.In April 1532 a bloody civil war between two brothers ended with one of them, Atahualpa, as master of the mighty Inca Empire. Now the most powerful man in South America, his word was law for millions of subjects spread across thousands of square miles, from the parched deserts of the coast to the lush rainforest of the Amazon and along the spine of the soaring Andes Mountains. But the time of the Incas was coming to an end. In November of that year a handful of Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro seized Atahualpa at Cajamarca, extorted his treasure, murdered him, and then marched on the Inca capital Cuzco to elevate a puppet, Manco, to the vacant throne. In 1536, however, Manco roused his people against the intruders, and the Spaniards found themselves isolated and fighting for their lives. This fascinating and beautifully illustrated book brings to life the background to and progress of the desperate 10-month siege of Cuzco; the opposing commanders, their fighting men, tactics, and military technologies; the key clashes, from Sacsayhuamán to Ollantaytambo; and how the outcome shaped our world today. Read more

One man goes in search of the lost cities of the Amazon in the Inca heartland.The lost cities of South America have always exercised a powerful hold on the popular imagination. The ruins of the Incas and other pre-Colombian civilisations are scattered over thousands of miles of still largely uncharted territory, particularly in the Eastern Andes, where the mountains fall away towards the Amazon. Twenty-five years ago, Hugh Thomson set off into the cloud-forest on foot to find a ruin that had been carelessly lost again after its initial discovery. Into his history of the Inca Empire he weaves the story of his adventures as he travelled to the most remote Inca cities. It is also the story of the great explorers in whose footsteps he followed, such as Hiram Bingham and Gene Savoy. Read more

South American food, music and culture are cutting a swathe across the western world.But what if cricket - the quintessential English sport - were to conquer Latin America? The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca is not as far-fetched as it sounds.Cricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already 10 years into their derby played across the River Plate.The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen reckoned that during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two world wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meat-packers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, and were beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932.But this is as much a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica and by the hulking locks of the Panama Canal. The legendary BBC commentator Brian Johnston, working for the family coffee business in Santos, was Brazil's best wicketkeeper until he was bed-ridden by beri-beri. Cricket was the favoured pursuit of the blustering Nitrate King of Chile; Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe; General Pinochet's grandchildren avidly play the game in Chile to this day.But the fate of cricket in South America is symbolised by Eva Perón ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme. Mexican bandits, Colombian guerrillas and Argentine anarchists have kidnapped their country's leading cricketers for ransom. One of the first Uruguayan cricketers - who scored the first goal for the national football team - was killed when a whirlwind carried away the cabin he was sheltering in. This is a book short on match reports, and long on blood and guts. Read more

When the Smithsonian's Hall of Physical Anthropology opened in 1965 it featured 160 Andean skulls affixed to a wall to visualize how the world's human population had exploded since the birth of Christ. Through a history of Inca mummies, a pre-Hispanic surgery called trepanation, and Andean crania like these, Empires of the Dead explains how "ancient Peruvians" became the single largest population in the Smithsonian and many other museums in Peru, the Americas, and beyond. In 1532, when Spain invaded the Inca empire, Europeans learned that Inca and Andean peoples made their ancestors sacred by preserving them with the world's oldest practices of artificial mummification. To extinguish their power, the Spaniards collected these ancestors as specimens of conquest, science, nature, and race. Yet colonial Andean communities also found ways to keep the dead alive, making "Inca mummies" a symbol of resistance that Spanish American patriots used to introduce Peruvian Independence and science to the world. Inspired, nineteenth-century US anthropologists disinterred and collected Andean mummies and skulls to question the antiquity and civilization of the American "race" in publications, world's fairs, and US museums. Peruvian scholars then used those mummies and skulls to transform anthropology itself, curating these "scientific ancestors" as evidence of pre-Hispanic superiority in healing.Bringing together the history of science, race, and museums' possession of Indigenous remains, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, Empires of the Dead illuminates how South American ancestors became coveted mummies, skulls, and specimens of knowledge and nationhood. In doing so it reveals how Peruvian and Andean peoples have learned from their dead, seeking the recovery of looted heritage in the centuries before North American museums began their own work of decolonization. Read more

Imagine that all the great discoveries of Ancient Egypt had happened in the last few years...and you will have some conception of the great excitement over recent finds in PeruPeru 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 Chavín, 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. 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. Read more