The Man Who Owned a Wonder of the World

Only a few weeks before a worldwide vote named Chichen Itza one of the new Seven Wonders of the World a New England family tours the restored ancient city of the Maya civilization. Like millions before them, they admire the ancient pyramids, ball courts, and temples, but their family has a unique history with the ruins--they used to own them.They are the descendants of Edward H. Thompson, one of the world's most famous, and most infamous, archaeologists. In The Man Who Owned a Wonder...
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Only a few weeks before a worldwide vote named Chichen Itza one of the new Seven Wonders of the World a New England family tours the restored ancient city of the Maya civilization. Like millions before them, they admire the ancient pyramids, ball courts, and temples, but their family has a unique history with the ruins--they used to own them.They are the descendants of Edward H. Thompson, one of the world's most famous, and most infamous, archaeologists. In The Man Who Owned a Wonder of the World: The Untold History of Mexico's Chichén Itzá, author Evan J. Albright unveils for the first time the true story of how Thompson bought Chichen itza, then made one of the most signficant archaeological discoveries in North America only to have it erupt into one of the biggest archaeological scandals in history. Thompson's legacy continues to haunt Mexican-American relations to this day.The author travels to Yucatan and discovers that more than 70 years after Thompson's death, Chichen Itza is still private property, the personal playground of 79-year-old Fernando Barbachano Gomez Rul - eccentric tourism entrepreneur, political gadfly, and Maya mystic. The tale takes an unexpected and very human turn when Barbachano reveals Edward Thompson's biggest secret -- the Maya family he left behind, who the author finds still lives in the shadow of Chichén Itzá's great pyramid.Part history, part biography, part on-the-scene reporting, The Man Who Owned a Wonder of the World reveals the very human face of archaeology yesterday and today.