Cities of Gold: Legendary Kingdoms, Quixotic Quests, and Fantastic New World Wealth by Bill Yenne

Cities of Gold: Legendary Kingdoms, Quixotic Quests, and Fantastic New World Wealth by Bill Yenne

The Search for Legendary Kingdoms in the Exploration of the Americas For half a millennium, legends of vast treasures--El Dorado, Ciudad de los Cesares, Sierra del Plata, and the Seven Cities of Cibola--have been part of the lore of the Americas. Long before the Spanish set foot in the New World, however, myths and rumors of fabulous wealth in some distant lands had entered European popular culture. Stories of mysterious realms in Africa and Asia had been alive in castles and seaport taverns for centuries. Accounts of these astonishing places, such as the kingdom of Prester John, were told and retold so often that they were assumed to be true. The New World was a blank slate for the early modern imagination, and into this land, European dreamers could read all sorts of possibilities, such as Juan Ponce de Leon's search for the elusive Fountain of Youth. When the first conquistadors made contact with Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations, they found cultures that were literally dripping with gold. This evidence made it easy to believe the native stories of even greater wealth just beyond the horizon. In Cities of Gold: Obsession, Quixotic Quests, and Fantastic New World Wealth, Bill Yenne takes the reader from the jungles and mountains of Peru, Paraguay, and Venezuela to the deserts and peaks of Mexico and the United States to tell the extraordinary story of how the search for legendary New World cities fueled the exploration of an unknown hemisphere for hundreds of years. Even without finding the places they sought, during Spain's "Siglo de Oro" in the sixteenth century, the Spanish plundered and mined thousands of tons of New World gold and silver and shipped it home where it reached a staggering modern estimate of two trillion dollars in the kingdom's reserves alone. And it was not just the Spanish who were obsessed with gold: Sir Francis Drake, who once proclaimed himself emperor of North America, also spent time following the legends of gold and silver in the name of the British crown. Discussing the many expeditions to find New World riches and including many lesser-known personalities from Germany, Netherlands, and other countries, the author explains the challenges faced by early explorers, the risks they took, and how the treasures they did and did not find changed the history of Europe and the New World.

Bill Yenne is the author of more than three dozen nonfiction books on historical topics. His books on aviation and military history have included Area 51 Black Jets--which T. D. Barmes, formerly with NASA High Range and Area 51 Special Projects, described as not a book that the reader will lay down and not finish. It holds one's interest from front to back. Yenne has also contributed to encyclopedias of World War I and World War II and has been featured in several documentaries that have aired on the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Smithsonian Channel, and ARD German Television. The Wall Street Journal notes that Yenne writes with a cinematic vividness. Yenne has also authored ten novels and has penned several books on beer and brewing history.

Bill Yenne is the author of three dozen nonfiction books and several novels. His book Guinness: The 250-Year Quest for the Perfect Pint was ranked among the top business books of the year by Conde Nast Portfolio Magazine.

His other books on beer and brewing history include The American Brewery, Great American Beers: Twelve Brands That Became Icons, Beers of North America, Beers of the World, and Beer Labels of the World. He has also contributed articles to All About Beer Magazine and has discussed brewing history as a featured guest on television and radio. He has appeared in documentaries that have aired on the History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and ARD German Television.

Mr. Yenne lives in San Francisco and hosts numerous beer tastings throughout the United States. To learn more about him, visit his website at www.billyenne.com.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781594161445
ISBN 10	1594161445
Title	Cities of Gold: Legendary Kingdoms, Quixotic Quests, and Fantastic New World Wealth
Author	Bill Yenne
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Westholme Publishing, U.S.
Year published	2011-11-17
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable