THE RIDDLE OF THE INCAS: The Story of Hiram Bingham and Machu Picchu

Almost meaningless without maps or photographs, this is the story of Yale researcher Bingham's discovery of the ""lost"" cities of the Incas intertwined with the history of Inca civilization, especially its demise as chronicled by contemporary and later Spaniards. Bingham himself is of little interest but his technique of collating and reasoning from records would be--if it were entirely comprehensible. Quite simply, you never know where he is or where he's going, and the atlas is of little help; neither do you know--without photographs--what he's looking for or what he finds. Baumann's Gold and Gods of Peru has a chapter on Bingham, his discoveries and their significance which is stunningly illustrated; it represents his work far more adequately.