Media Kit
Media Kit for LIFE AND DEATH IN THE ANDES: ON THE TRAIL OF BANDITS, HEROES, AND REVOLUTIONARIES
Table of Contents
- Contact Info
- About the Author
- Author Photos
- About the Book
- Press Release (Simon & Schuster)
- Q & A
- Book Info & Book Covers
- Reviews and Endorsements
Contact Info
Media Queries
Clarissa Marzán
212-698-1239
clarissa.marzan@simonandschuster.com
Other Questions?
Kim MacQuarrie
Email – kimmacquarrie at gmail.com
About the Author
Kim MacQuarrie is a writer, a four-time Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, and an anthropologist. Educated in France, the U.S. and Peru, MacQuarrie is the author of four books on Peru and lived in that country for five years. During that time, MacQuarrie lived with a recently contacted tribe of indigenous Amazonians called the Yora. It was MacQuarrie’s experience filming a nearby group of indigenous people whose ancestors still remembered their contacts with the Inca Empire that led him to write his previous book, The Last Days of the Incas, the story of how 168 Spanish soldiers conquered an empire of ten million people, which is the basis of Conquistadors, a forthcoming, 13-part dramatic series on FX. Visit the author at KimMacQuarrie.com.
For a fuller biography, see: http://celebrityscribe.com/content/ciara-kim-01.html
Author Photos
About the Book
Unique portraits of legendary characters along South America’s mountain spine, from Charles Darwin to the present day, told by a master traveler and observer.
The Andes Mountains are the world’s longest mountain chain, running for 4,300 miles along the length of South America, from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego. For thousands of years they have been the setting for spectacular, dramatic, and often bloody events, even as they have given birth to some of the world’s great civilizations. In this enthralling blend of history, travel, and adventure, Kim MacQuarrie takes readers on a fascinating journey that explores some of the most remarkable and enigmatic stories – from the ancient Incas to the recent cocaine kings – that have taken place along the mountain chain.
Why did the Incas, for example–who created the largest empire ever to have existed in the Americas–sacrifice children on the Andes’ highest peaks? What secrets do these “Ice Mummies,” many of whom have remained frozen and perfectly preserved for half a millennium, reveal? On Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, MacQuarrie visits natives who have lived for centuries on strange “floating islands” of reeds and who fashion giant reed boats. Did similar boats once transport people from the Andes to the islands of Polynesia, thousands of miles away? The Andes also gave birth to the coca plant, whose narcotic ingredients launched the careers of cocaine kings such as Pablo Escobar. MacQuarrie investigates Escobar’s amazing rags-to-riches story as well as the link between Escobar and the myth of El Dorado, the native king who once anointed himself daily with gold.
The rugged Central Andes, meanwhile, is where the continent’s bloodiest guerrilla movement, the Shining Path, erupted. In Peru, MacQuarrie tracks down the unsung police detective who secretly unraveled the Shining Path’s plans just as they were about to seize power. MacQuarrie also investigates the question of why Che Guevara thought he could initiate a revolution with only a tiny cadre of seasoned guerrillas in one of the remotest areas of the Bolivian Andes. And how was it that the bank robbers Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got trapped in their own final shootout, not far from where Che died? Finally, what clues did Charles Darwin discover in the Patagonian Andes that would help him to conceive of the theory of evolution—and what secrets did the Andes reveal that would lead Hiram Bingham to discover Machu Picchu? Kim MacQuarrie investigated these stories and more while on his own epic journey down the length of the Andes, brilliantly illuminating the captivating and remarkable history of South America’s most majestic chain of mountains.
Press Release (Simon & Schuster)
Q & A
Book Info & Book Covers
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE ANDES: On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries
by Kim MacQuarrie
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Hardcover ISBN: 9781439168899
Price: $32.50
448 pages
eBook ISBN: 9781439168929
eBook Price: $14.99
Hi-Resolution Cover:
Reviews and Endorsements
“[A] fascinating….clear-eyed…poignant summary of the collision between ancient and modern that has done much to shape the Andean region.”
– Boston Globe
“[MacQuarrie] writes smartly and engagingly and with…enthusiasm about the variety of South America’s life and landscape.”
– New York Times Book Review
“For anyone who has been to South America, or dreams of going, LIFE AND DEATH IN THE ANDES brings its people and the gorgeous, oftentimes awe-inspiring, country alive.”
– Bookreporter.com
“The human history that has shaped South America is dramatically re-created in this rich account of iconic Andes characters, from Pablo Escobar and Hiram Bingham to Che Guevara and Butch Cassidy.”
– National Geographic Traveler
“MacQuarrie’s book is as richly detailed as it is deeply felt. A thoughtfully observed travel memoir and history.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“MacQuarrie spectacularly describes the Andes…This is a well-written, immersive work that history aficionados, particularly those with an affinity for Latin America, will relish.”
– Library Journal
“[MacQuarrie’s] account of how Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán was finally run to ground is both a rousing good yarn and a case study in political error…He brings fresh details to the [Che Guevara] narrative by tracking down the teacher who fed and conversed with Guevara in the hours before a Bolivian soldier executed him. Although famous names provide much of the material in Life and Death in the Andes, they occupy only a part of MacQuarrie’s attention. He also delves into local cultures…MacQuarrie is a master storyteller whose cinematic eye always shines through.”
– BookPage
“Lively…An enthusiastic…and enlightening…exploration of South America”
– Star Tribune
“In this vivid, engaging hybrid of travel and history, Kim MacQuarrie proves to be the ideal companion on a trip the length of South America—a land where past and present are inseparable.”
– Mark Adams, author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
“Few writers know the mountainous spine of South America better than Kim MacQuarrie, and fewer still can match the richness, verve, and competence he brings to his work. Whether focused on Darwin’s extraordinary journey through icy Patagonia or the demise of Che Guevara in Bolivia, MacQuarrie displays an unfailing talent for great storytelling and an exceptional depth of knowledge. Life and Death in the Andes is a beautifully crafted book that brings to vivid life one of the most spectacular and mysterious landscapes on the planet.”
– Scott Wallace, author of The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes
“It was an inspired idea to weave a journey through the Andes with tales of some of its most flamboyant characters — gangsters like the drug baron Pablo Escobar and the bank robber Butch Cassidy, murderous idealists like Che Guevara and the founder of the Shining Path insurgency, or Charles Darwin and the Patagonian indigenous peoples. Kim MacQuarrie tracks down their descendants or acolytes, and enthralls the reader with their stories and his own travels.”
– John Hemming, author of The Conquest of the Incas
“In Life and Death in the Andes, Kim MacQuarrie combines his extraordinary skills as a writer and researcher to create what is destined to become a modern day classic. A real page-turner and essential reading for anyone who hopes to better understand that increasingly important part of the world.”
– Major Gen. John C. Thompson (USA-Ret.), former Director of the Inter-American Defense College and Chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board
