Lost City of the Incas ([New] ed)

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 ft above the torrent of the Urumbamba 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 discovery which he described in his best-selling book "Lost City of the Incas".