Life and Death in the Andes

On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries

Kim MacQuarrie

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781439168905
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439168929
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: History

“A thoughtfully observed travel memoir and history as richly detailed as it is deeply felt” (Kirkus Reviews) of South America, from Butch Cassidy to Che Guevara to cocaine king Pablo Escobar to Charles Darwin, all set in the Andes Mountains.

The Andes Mountains are the world’s longest mountain chain, linking most of the countries in South America. Kim MacQuarrie takes us on a historical journey through this unique region, bringing fresh insight and contemporary connections to such fabled characters as Charles Darwin, Che Guevara, Pablo Escobar, Butch Cassidy, Thor Heyerdahl, and others. He describes living on the floating islands of Lake Titcaca. He introduces us to a Patagonian woman who is the last living speaker of her language. We meet the woman who cared for the wounded Che Guevara just before he died, the police officer who captured cocaine king Pablo Escobar, the dancer who hid Shining Path guerrilla Abimael Guzman, and a man whose grandfather witnessed the death of Butch Cassidy.

Collectively these stories tell us something about the spirit of South America. What makes South America different from other continents—and what makes the cultures of the Andes different from other cultures found there? How did the capitalism introduced by the Spaniards change South America? Why did Shining Path leader Guzman nearly succeed in his revolutionary quest while Che Guevara in Bolivia was a complete failure in his?

“MacQuarrie writes smartly and engagingly and with…enthusiasm about the variety of South America’s life and landscape” (The New York Times Book Review) in Life and Death in the Andes. Based on the author’s own deeply observed travels, “this is a well-written, immersive work that history aficionados, particularly those with an affinity for Latin America, will relish” (Library Journal).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Map of the South American Plate
• Map of the Central Andes
• Map of Tierra del Fuego
• Preface
• 1. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar and the Search for El Dorado (Colombia)
• 2. Evolution and Denial in the Galápagos (Ecuador)
• 3. Death in the Andes: The Capture of Shining Path Leader Abimael Guzmán (Peru)
• 4. The Rise and Fall of Hiram Bingham, “Discoverer” of Machu Picchu (Peru)
• 5. Ice Maidens, Volcanoes, and Incas (Peru)
• 6. The Kon-Tiki Voyage, White Gods, and the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca (Peru and Bolivia)
• 7. The End of Che Guevara (Bolivia)
• 8. The Final Days of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Bolivia)
• 9. Darwin, the Last Yámana, and the Uttermost Part of the Earth (Chile and Argentina)
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• About Kim MacQuarrie
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright