Seeking fame and fortune, Hiram Bingham treks into the mountainous central regions of Peru in search of the Lost City of the Incas. When he emerges, he is an exploration superstar; the recipient of such adulation, he is able to parlay it into a career in the U.S. Senate. Following a trail of rumor and legend, he wanders far into the sacred valleys, where he discovers a series of mountain-top sanctuaries used by the Incas to hide from the Spanish Conquerors. Machu Picchu chronicles the arduous, near-mystical journey of a man consumed by ambition and reveals the astonishing remains of a vanished culture, hidden beneath the encroaching jungle and beyond the mists of time.

• Richard Kiley