Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon: A Chronicle of an Incan Treasure - Softcover

Lourie, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803279809 ISBN 13: 9780803279803

Publisher: Bison Books, 1998

Synopsis

Eight billion dollars’ worth of Inca gold and silver are rumored to be hidden in an unmapped region of the Andes. This is the captivating story of that fabled treasure and the centuries-old spell it has cast on many, including a young American student, Peter Lourie.

While completing anthropological fieldwork in Ecuador, Lourie heard the legend of Atahualpa’s ransom. The Incas gathered seven-hundred tons of gold (Sweat of the Sun) and silver (Tears of the Moon) to purchase the freedom of their king, Atahualpa, from Pizarro and his conquistadors. After the Inca ruler’s murder, the treasure vanished into the forsaken Llanganati range of the Andes.

Lourie abandoned his graduate school ambitions to search for Atahualpa’s ransom. His quest for clues and his journey into the heart of the Andes is an absorbing and exciting detective story. Lourie’s account is also unforgettable for its revelations about the lives and characters of seasoned treasure hunters, the obsessed few lured by the siren song of legendary gold.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Lourie teaches Adventure Writing & Digital Storytelling at Middlebury College.  His many books include Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist, Arctic Thaw, Hidden World of the Aztec, and The Lost Treasure of Captain Kidd.

From Library Journal:

The Llanganati is a remote, high Andean area of Ecuador that has long been rumored to contain a fabulous gold collection hidden by the Incas when the Spanish conquistadors swept through. Over the years it has attracted a colorful variety of treasure hunters, some of whom the author got to know in the early 1980s. Lourie decided to make the expedition himself, but not in search of the treasure so much as the experience of the journey. In doing so, his first book is a rich tapestry of characters of several nationalitites that often reads like fiction. The title is a reference to the Incan imagery of gold and silver, respectively. The only major drawback is an absence of maps, yet this is ultimately a fine treasure-hunting book.
-Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bison Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0803279809
• ISBN 13: 9780803279803
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 307