An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

Hard-hitting facts, 14 Jun 2004
Colombia is a complex nation and is often misunderstood, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo. Moreover, "the nature of Colombia's internal conflict has been completly distorted by the prism of drug-war politics," he adds in the opening chapter. To this end, the author provides hard-hitting facts to support his claim that United States aid to Colombia, "is very often used by the Colombian political and economic elite to promote its own agenda."

Murillo does not stop there...he exposes Colombia's feeble legal system. "In Colombia, the Constitution and its laws are often ignored and rarely enforced, either because of a lack of bureaucratic capacity on the part of the state to do so, or because of an absence of political will on the part of the ruling elite to execute those laws that are designed to protect the public," he reports.

The author has few kind words for President Alvaro Uribe. Murillo attacks the politically motivated violence "by the state and its paramilitary apparatus." He also is critical of the corruption of the traditional political parties, run predominantly by elites..."who compete for the spoils that serve as an incentive for cycles of generalized corruption."

The origins of the conflict, the myths behind Colombian democracy, the principal actors in today's conflict and the many views in the United States are studied in detail in this text. The analysis of the paramilitaries in Colombia is brilliant...particularly in respect to the millions of displaced people and the terrible treatment of Afro-Colombians.

Still and all, the best part of this book is the call for change. Murillo slams Alvaro Uribe's unconditional support for George W. Bush and worries that the impunity of the violent actors in Colombia will continue to fuel the civil war. In conclusion, the author clearly states that a pure military solution is impossible and that only true democratic reforms can stop the violence. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

Hard-hitting facts, 14 Jun 2004
Colombia is a complex nation and is often misunderstood, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo. Moreover, "the nature of Colombia's internal conflict has been completly distorted by the prism of drug-war politics," he adds in the opening chapter. To this end, the author provides hard-hitting facts to support his claim that United States aid to Colombia, "is very often used by the Colombian political and economic elite to promote its own agenda."

Murillo does not stop there...he exposes Colombia's feeble legal system. "In Colombia, the Constitution and its laws are often ignored and rarely enforced, either because of a lack of bureaucratic capacity on the part of the state to do so, or because of an absence of political will on the part of the ruling elite to execute those laws that are designed to protect the public," he reports.

The author has few kind words for President Alvaro Uribe. Murillo attacks the politically motivated violence "by the state and its paramilitary apparatus." He also is critical of the corruption of the traditional political parties, run predominantly by elites..."who compete for the spoils that serve as an incentive for cycles of generalized corruption."

The origins of the conflict, the myths behind Colombian democracy, the principal actors in today's conflict and the many views in the United States are studied in detail in this text. The analysis of the paramilitaries in Colombia is brilliant...particularly in respect to the millions of displaced people and the terrible treatment of Afro-Colombians.

Still and all, the best part of this book is the call for change. Murillo slams Alvaro Uribe's unconditional support for George W. Bush and worries that the impunity of the violent actors in Colombia will continue to fuel the civil war. In conclusion, the author clearly states that a pure military solution is impossible and that only true democratic reforms can stop the violence. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Taussig takes one on a terrifying, gut churning, horrifying, 06 Feb 1999
trip through the rubber boom of the 1800's in South America. From detailed historical survey to his first hand accounts of life around the Amazon, he never ceases to confront the reader with reality. His study is comprehensive in that he brings attention to all different aspects of the European, Indian and African people who live there. The study helps integrate the anthropological view of society to consider the religious, political, economic and moral as part of the collective consciousness of a community. Powerful book.

Much more than a simple ethnographic investigation..., 28 Jan 1998
Arguably one of the most accomplished anthropologists working today, Michael Taussig provides an intensely individualistic bricolage of literary, historical, and ethnological interpretations of his many years of fieldwork in the Upper Amazon. One of the most detailed and poignant accounts of shamanism in its cultural context - will very soon be regarded as a classic.

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

Hard-hitting facts, 14 Jun 2004
Colombia is a complex nation and is often misunderstood, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo. Moreover, "the nature of Colombia's internal conflict has been completly distorted by the prism of drug-war politics," he adds in the opening chapter. To this end, the author provides hard-hitting facts to support his claim that United States aid to Colombia, "is very often used by the Colombian political and economic elite to promote its own agenda."

Murillo does not stop there...he exposes Colombia's feeble legal system. "In Colombia, the Constitution and its laws are often ignored and rarely enforced, either because of a lack of bureaucratic capacity on the part of the state to do so, or because of an absence of political will on the part of the ruling elite to execute those laws that are designed to protect the public," he reports.

The author has few kind words for President Alvaro Uribe. Murillo attacks the politically motivated violence "by the state and its paramilitary apparatus." He also is critical of the corruption of the traditional political parties, run predominantly by elites..."who compete for the spoils that serve as an incentive for cycles of generalized corruption."

The origins of the conflict, the myths behind Colombian democracy, the principal actors in today's conflict and the many views in the United States are studied in detail in this text. The analysis of the paramilitaries in Colombia is brilliant...particularly in respect to the millions of displaced people and the terrible treatment of Afro-Colombians.

Still and all, the best part of this book is the call for change. Murillo slams Alvaro Uribe's unconditional support for George W. Bush and worries that the impunity of the violent actors in Colombia will continue to fuel the civil war. In conclusion, the author clearly states that a pure military solution is impossible and that only true democratic reforms can stop the violence. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Taussig takes one on a terrifying, gut churning, horrifying, 06 Feb 1999
trip through the rubber boom of the 1800's in South America. From detailed historical survey to his first hand accounts of life around the Amazon, he never ceases to confront the reader with reality. His study is comprehensive in that he brings attention to all different aspects of the European, Indian and African people who live there. The study helps integrate the anthropological view of society to consider the religious, political, economic and moral as part of the collective consciousness of a community. Powerful book.

Much more than a simple ethnographic investigation..., 28 Jan 1998
Arguably one of the most accomplished anthropologists working today, Michael Taussig provides an intensely individualistic bricolage of literary, historical, and ethnological interpretations of his many years of fieldwork in the Upper Amazon. One of the most detailed and poignant accounts of shamanism in its cultural context - will very soon be regarded as a classic.

A stunning journalistic account of political genocide, 16 Jan 2004
"Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia," by Steven Dudley is a stunning journalistic account of political genocide. To this end, the author has very likely crossed a dangerous line in Colombia's Civil War and exposed himself to enormous danger. Because by bravely documenting the links between Colombia's ruthless narco-paramilitary death squads, the Colombian armed forces, the Colombian National Police, powerful landowners and corrupt members of the two-party political establishment...he has made many bitter enemies.

This book is about the tragic rise and fall of a Colombian political party called the Patriotic Union(UP). Dudley painstakingly interviews the key political actors in the Colombian Communist Party and senior members of the FARC guerrilla organization who were responsible for the establishment of the UP. At the beginning there was much hope that the UP party could break the rigid chains of Colombia's two party system and foster a reform minded peace. However, Dudley's impeccable research demonstrates how powerful members of Colombian society were not prepared to accept a political party that was sponsored by the Communist Party and a revolutionary guerrilla army.

Consequently, a sinister dirty war was conducted. The government fell silent while the Army and well-financed paramilitary death squads exterminated the UP. The body count was horrific. A total of 111 members of the UP were murdered in 1987; 276 were assasinated in 1988; and 138 were butchered in 1989. Within five years thousands were slaughtered. The dead included UP presidential candidates, Senators, Mayors and members of Congress. Half-way through this book one will certainly question the wisdom of the Colombian government. Because by allowing the murderers to go free (97% of crimes in Colombia go unpunished)...many poor segments of Colombian society no longer have faith in the State.

This book is well written. It is hard to put down. But please be warned...the violence is brutal and Dudley objectively portrays the terrifying bloodshed inside the borders of Colombia. He also documents how paramilitaries brag of military and political support. Moreover, the author honestly hints how the United States $1.3 billion Plan Colombia funds may be helping paramilitary death squads led by Carlos Castano.

In conclusion, this is a groundbreaking book. Dudley is a former human rights worker and tier-one journalist who has dared to expose Colombia's dark secrets. The author openly admits that there is not enough room in one book for all of Colombia's victims of paramilitary violence. Dudley is a brave journalist. He dares to question how the current Colombian government is trying to forgive the paramilitaries (grant amnesty) and allow them to keep their drug trafficking wealth. In conclusion, Colombia needs a human rights truth commission like that of Peru and Guatemala. However, after finishing this book one will find that the elites in Colombia will never allow this to happen. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

Hard-hitting facts, 14 Jun 2004
Colombia is a complex nation and is often misunderstood, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo. Moreover, "the nature of Colombia's internal conflict has been completly distorted by the prism of drug-war politics," he adds in the opening chapter. To this end, the author provides hard-hitting facts to support his claim that United States aid to Colombia, "is very often used by the Colombian political and economic elite to promote its own agenda."

Murillo does not stop there...he exposes Colombia's feeble legal system. "In Colombia, the Constitution and its laws are often ignored and rarely enforced, either because of a lack of bureaucratic capacity on the part of the state to do so, or because of an absence of political will on the part of the ruling elite to execute those laws that are designed to protect the public," he reports.

The author has few kind words for President Alvaro Uribe. Murillo attacks the politically motivated violence "by the state and its paramilitary apparatus." He also is critical of the corruption of the traditional political parties, run predominantly by elites..."who compete for the spoils that serve as an incentive for cycles of generalized corruption."

The origins of the conflict, the myths behind Colombian democracy, the principal actors in today's conflict and the many views in the United States are studied in detail in this text. The analysis of the paramilitaries in Colombia is brilliant...particularly in respect to the millions of displaced people and the terrible treatment of Afro-Colombians.

Still and all, the best part of this book is the call for change. Murillo slams Alvaro Uribe's unconditional support for George W. Bush and worries that the impunity of the violent actors in Colombia will continue to fuel the civil war. In conclusion, the author clearly states that a pure military solution is impossible and that only true democratic reforms can stop the violence. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Taussig takes one on a terrifying, gut churning, horrifying, 06 Feb 1999
trip through the rubber boom of the 1800's in South America. From detailed historical survey to his first hand accounts of life around the Amazon, he never ceases to confront the reader with reality. His study is comprehensive in that he brings attention to all different aspects of the European, Indian and African people who live there. The study helps integrate the anthropological view of society to consider the religious, political, economic and moral as part of the collective consciousness of a community. Powerful book.

Much more than a simple ethnographic investigation..., 28 Jan 1998
Arguably one of the most accomplished anthropologists working today, Michael Taussig provides an intensely individualistic bricolage of literary, historical, and ethnological interpretations of his many years of fieldwork in the Upper Amazon. One of the most detailed and poignant accounts of shamanism in its cultural context - will very soon be regarded as a classic.

A stunning journalistic account of political genocide, 16 Jan 2004
"Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia," by Steven Dudley is a stunning journalistic account of political genocide. To this end, the author has very likely crossed a dangerous line in Colombia's Civil War and exposed himself to enormous danger. Because by bravely documenting the links between Colombia's ruthless narco-paramilitary death squads, the Colombian armed forces, the Colombian National Police, powerful landowners and corrupt members of the two-party political establishment...he has made many bitter enemies.

This book is about the tragic rise and fall of a Colombian political party called the Patriotic Union(UP). Dudley painstakingly interviews the key political actors in the Colombian Communist Party and senior members of the FARC guerrilla organization who were responsible for the establishment of the UP. At the beginning there was much hope that the UP party could break the rigid chains of Colombia's two party system and foster a reform minded peace. However, Dudley's impeccable research demonstrates how powerful members of Colombian society were not prepared to accept a political party that was sponsored by the Communist Party and a revolutionary guerrilla army.

Consequently, a sinister dirty war was conducted. The government fell silent while the Army and well-financed paramilitary death squads exterminated the UP. The body count was horrific. A total of 111 members of the UP were murdered in 1987; 276 were assasinated in 1988; and 138 were butchered in 1989. Within five years thousands were slaughtered. The dead included UP presidential candidates, Senators, Mayors and members of Congress. Half-way through this book one will certainly question the wisdom of the Colombian government. Because by allowing the murderers to go free (97% of crimes in Colombia go unpunished)...many poor segments of Colombian society no longer have faith in the State.

This book is well written. It is hard to put down. But please be warned...the violence is brutal and Dudley objectively portrays the terrifying bloodshed inside the borders of Colombia. He also documents how paramilitaries brag of military and political support. Moreover, the author honestly hints how the United States $1.3 billion Plan Colombia funds may be helping paramilitary death squads led by Carlos Castano.

In conclusion, this is a groundbreaking book. Dudley is a former human rights worker and tier-one journalist who has dared to expose Colombia's dark secrets. The author openly admits that there is not enough room in one book for all of Colombia's victims of paramilitary violence. Dudley is a brave journalist. He dares to question how the current Colombian government is trying to forgive the paramilitaries (grant amnesty) and allow them to keep their drug trafficking wealth. In conclusion, Colombia needs a human rights truth commission like that of Peru and Guatemala. However, after finishing this book one will find that the elites in Colombia will never allow this to happen. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Vallejo loves herself too much!, 12 Nov 2008
After reading "killing Pablo" I decided to read this book to have a better picture about the man behind the drug dealer. This book is very easy to read and it does give an insight into Escobar's personality but I found the arrogance, shallowness and materialistic way of thinking of the author - a simply rich men-eater - too hard to stand. She always finds the chance to tell the world how amazing she is and how much money she spends when, let's face it, we're interested about Escobar, not about her!
I wouldn't recommend it.

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 31 Aug 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A traveller's guidebook, 17 Mar 2004
This book is dedicated to pilgrims everywhere. It is an epic story emanating from one man's decision to leave everything behind to discover, and later, re-discover Peru. It is told over a 20 year period and, in the process of discovering Peru, the author discovers himself. Hugh Thompson is one of us; he narrates as if he knows we are listening; he keeps us involved!
Most of us have a fair idea about Peru's historical ancesters - multiple tribes of Indians collectively knowns as "Incas",who worshipped the sun, wore colourful custumes and who shaped beautiful objects from the plentiful supplies of gold and silver. Alas, their world was to be turned upside down by 150 Spanish invaders who, with their modern weapons and protective metal gear, defeated a confused, vulnerable and highly superstitious race. Hugh breaks up this tragic history over the entire story as he travels through Peru. We are fed pieces of the history and we greedliy ask for more.
The books starts brilliantly - "Raiders of the Lost ark" was released just as he returned from his first visit to Peru and he excitedly watched it in a London cinema. Although too fantastic for words, the vision of "Indy" searching in caves for a lost inca idol is the stuff of legends. Secretly, we all see ourselves in that role - the discoverer of lost artefacts in forgotten, swampy, tropical jungles.
His first visit was in 1982. He sees an unrefined yet friendly place as he and some friends "rough it". There are many discomforts and food is constantly rationed as they trek off the beaten path. Alcohol, coca plants, excessively-strong joints and food-binges in Cusco become a regular respite. He becomes a real traveller and jokingly scorns the "tourists" who arrive at Macchu Piccu the easy way. Thompson is in awe of this lost city but he is looking for other forgotten locations, lost in the undergrowth. He is loath to give Hiram Bingham too much credit for "discovering" Micch Piccu. The city was known to locals and previous travellers but Bingham gets the credit for "reporting it officially". Thompson refutes the former's assertion that Macchu Piccu was a last refuge for Inca women, there to serve the last Inca and worship the sun as it broke through the mountains at dawn.
Thompson, like myself, feels a deep sense of loss at the distruction of the empire by a small group of greedy and brutal foreigners - the beautiful gold and silver idols they crafted melted to make bullion. This is turn mirrors the melting down and disintegration of a most distinct culture. It is a very tragic tale and the reader can become affected by the brutality of their demise.
Thompson eventually reaches the white rock, the last location of the Incas...and we take a deep breath and start to read it all over again....
As I contemplate a future vist to Peru this book will be my best companion...Top reading!

Hard-hitting facts, 14 Jun 2004
Colombia is a complex nation and is often misunderstood, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo. Moreover, "the nature of Colombia's internal conflict has been completly distorted by the prism of drug-war politics," he adds in the opening chapter. To this end, the author provides hard-hitting facts to support his claim that United States aid to Colombia, "is very often used by the Colombian political and economic elite to promote its own agenda."

Murillo does not stop there...he exposes Colombia's feeble legal system. "In Colombia, the Constitution and its laws are often ignored and rarely enforced, either because of a lack of bureaucratic capacity on the part of the state to do so, or because of an absence of political will on the part of the ruling elite to execute those laws that are designed to protect the public," he reports.

The author has few kind words for President Alvaro Uribe. Murillo attacks the politically motivated violence "by the state and its paramilitary apparatus." He also is critical of the corruption of the traditional political parties, run predominantly by elites..."who compete for the spoils that serve as an incentive for cycles of generalized corruption."

The origins of the conflict, the myths behind Colombian democracy, the principal actors in today's conflict and the many views in the United States are studied in detail in this text. The analysis of the paramilitaries in Colombia is brilliant...particularly in respect to the millions of displaced people and the terrible treatment of Afro-Colombians.

Still and all, the best part of this book is the call for change. Murillo slams Alvaro Uribe's unconditional support for George W. Bush and worries that the impunity of the violent actors in Colombia will continue to fuel the civil war. In conclusion, the author clearly states that a pure military solution is impossible and that only true democratic reforms can stop the violence. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Taussig takes one on a terrifying, gut churning, horrifying, 06 Feb 1999
trip through the rubber boom of the 1800's in South America. From detailed historical survey to his first hand accounts of life around the Amazon, he never ceases to confront the reader with reality. His study is comprehensive in that he brings attention to all different aspects of the European, Indian and African people who live there. The study helps integrate the anthropological view of society to consider the religious, political, economic and moral as part of the collective consciousness of a community. Powerful book.

Much more than a simple ethnographic investigation..., 28 Jan 1998
Arguably one of the most accomplished anthropologists working today, Michael Taussig provides an intensely individualistic bricolage of literary, historical, and ethnological interpretations of his many years of fieldwork in the Upper Amazon. One of the most detailed and poignant accounts of shamanism in its cultural context - will very soon be regarded as a classic.

A stunning journalistic account of political genocide, 16 Jan 2004
"Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia," by Steven Dudley is a stunning journalistic account of political genocide. To this end, the author has very likely crossed a dangerous line in Colombia's Civil War and exposed himself to enormous danger. Because by bravely documenting the links between Colombia's ruthless narco-paramilitary death squads, the Colombian armed forces, the Colombian National Police, powerful landowners and corrupt members of the two-party political establishment...he has made many bitter enemies.

This book is about the tragic rise and fall of a Colombian political party called the Patriotic Union(UP). Dudley painstakingly interviews the key political actors in the Colombian Communist Party and senior members of the FARC guerrilla organization who were responsible for the establishment of the UP. At the beginning there was much hope that the UP party could break the rigid chains of Colombia's two party system and foster a reform minded peace. However, Dudley's impeccable research demonstrates how powerful members of Colombian society were not prepared to accept a political party that was sponsored by the Communist Party and a revolutionary guerrilla army.

Consequently, a sinister dirty war was conducted. The government fell silent while the Army and well-financed paramilitary death squads exterminated the UP. The body count was horrific. A total of 111 members of the UP were murdered in 1987; 276 were assasinated in 1988; and 138 were butchered in 1989. Within five years thousands were slaughtered. The dead included UP presidential candidates, Senators, Mayors and members of Congress. Half-way through this book one will certainly question the wisdom of the Colombian government. Because by allowing the murderers to go free (97% of crimes in Colombia go unpunished)...many poor segments of Colombian society no longer have faith in the State.

This book is well written. It is hard to put down. But please be warned...the violence is brutal and Dudley objectively portrays the terrifying bloodshed inside the borders of Colombia. He also documents how paramilitaries brag of military and political support. Moreover, the author honestly hints how the United States $1.3 billion Plan Colombia funds may be helping paramilitary death squads led by Carlos Castano.

In conclusion, this is a groundbreaking book. Dudley is a former human rights worker and tier-one journalist who has dared to expose Colombia's dark secrets. The author openly admits that there is not enough room in one book for all of Colombia's victims of paramilitary violence. Dudley is a brave journalist. He dares to question how the current Colombian government is trying to forgive the paramilitaries (grant amnesty) and allow them to keep their drug trafficking wealth. In conclusion, Colombia needs a human rights truth commission like that of Peru and Guatemala. However, after finishing this book one will find that the elites in Colombia will never allow this to happen. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Vallejo loves herself too much!, 12 Nov 2008
After reading "killing Pablo" I decided to read this book to have a better picture about the man behind the drug dealer. This book is very easy to read and it does give an insight into Escobar's personality but I found the arrogance, shallowness and materialistic way of thinking of the author - a simply rich men-eater - too hard to stand. She always finds the chance to tell the world how amazing she is and how much money she spends when, let's face it, we're interested about Escobar, not about her!
I wouldn't recommend it.


More terrible than death, 06 Nov 2003
For those of us who can face learning a little more than the fragmentary snapshots in the news, this book offers a good deal of information about what is happening every day in Colombia. Colombia is one of the key countries in the world today - the hinge around which Latin American development, narcotrafficking and civil war with massive US support revolve. This book gives a brilliant in depth picture of life in that country. A brave and frightening book.

A masterpiece, 18 Sep 2003
Anyone who is truly interested in understanding the dark complexities of the civil war in Colombia must read this book. To that end, "More terrible than death: Massacres, Drugs, and America's War in Colombia," is an absolute masterpiece.

Author Robin Kirk is brutally honest and quite frankly...very lucky to be alive to tell this story. Upon completing this book the reader will conclude that Kirk is a sincere and thoughtful student of the human condition in Colombia. Kirk is also a front line witness of a secret and savage dirty war. To this end, she is able to draft a brilliant synopsis of the violent actors in Colombia. Kirk is special. She refuses to lose her cool despite being surrounded by death. Her polished prose calms. Kirk's words do not jump off the pages and shout at you...instead they cling to you and then sink to the bottom of your soul. The end result is a deep disgust of the Colombian government for not protecting defenseless civilians outside the big cities.

Without a doubt, the leaders of Colombia...particularly in the military will consider this book a hard slap to the face. Kirk cleverly documents Colombia's long history of conducting a ruthless dirty war against the poor. The author uses a series of flashbacks and flashforwards to liven the pace of events. Moreover, Kirk displays an extraordinary talent for writing.

The bottom line of this book is that the political leaders of Colombia must sanitize its armed forces of paramilitary death squads. Kirk is not a doomsday author. She does her homework and uses her intimate knowledge of life in Colombia to unfold a stirring narrative.

This book is a surefire national bestseller that will redden the faces of Colombian leaders and boil the blood of American taxpayers. Because as Kirk brilliantly tells it...millions of dollars in American military aid...continues to flow to blatant human rights abusers in the Colombian armed forces.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 08 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 07 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous research from beginning to end of this book. To this end, the text has a scholarly quality to it but Thomson's irreverant writting style keeps the narrative lively. Overall, Thomson brilliantly manages to document the Inca people's dramatic civilization and the terrible annihilation of the vast empire by the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

An exploration of the Inca heart & soul, 03 Sep 2004
"The White Rock; An Exploration of the Inca Heartland," by Hugh Thomson is a probing insight to the heart and soul of the ancient Inca people. The author is an explorer, historian and filmmaker. However, since the Inca civilization left no written records...Thomson constructed his understanding of the Inca piece by piece...step by step and day by day. Consequently he is now arguably one of the world's foremost experts on Peru's early society.

The author is modest. He acknowledges that luck played a large role in his successful find of Llactapata. First discovered by the legendary explorer Henry Bingham in 1911...(but he was never able to find it again.) Hence it was lost for over a half century until the remarkable discovery by the young tenderfoot from England. Moreover, Thomson playfully admits in the early portion of the text that luck was evident throughout his humble early beginnings in Peru.

The author took twenty years to write this book and provides a seasoned eye to help the reader understand why the Inca build where they did. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous resear