HIGHWAY OF THE SUN

by Victor Von Hagen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 1955

In 1952 Victor Von Hagen (whose other fiction and non-fiction about the Andes country has gained him considerable notice) organized the expedition that followed as much as it possibly could of the network of Inca highways leading north from Lake Titicaca. This is the account of the journey. Though we detect notes of overdramatization and high regard for personal accomplishment, the account is frankly and excitingly written and takes the armchair archeologist right into the mountains, the jungle and the desert- the remarkably varying terrain the Incas linked with their equally remarkable roads. Going under the auspices of the American Geographical Society and taking with him Sylvia, his wife, Dorothy Menzell and Francis Riddell who were both archeologists, and Charles Daugherty, a photographer from Life. Von Hagen started out from the high lake in the winter of '52. The party passed through Chullpas and Carabaya before coming to Cuzco. From there, their way led to a further knowledge of the lost fortress of Vilcabamba. Ayacucho, Jauja and Huancayo, still busy market towns followed and gave way to the unliving desert and its burial places and finally the land of Mochica culture to the north. Interspersed with passages from the writings of Spanish discoverers and with good notes on the course of Inca culture, this is a unique foraging into the vastness of an empire.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1955

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brosn- DSP

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1955

Categories: NONFICTION