From the eagle's eyrie of Macchu Picchu, to the abandoned temple-city of Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia, the world is littered with the abandoned towns and cities of once-mighty civilizations. This book presents an account of the peoples and the history of 50 of these phantom towns.

From the eagle's eyrie of Macchu Picchu, hidden in the mountainous Andes, to the abandoned temple-city of Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia, the world is littered with the abandoned towns and cities of once-mighty civilizations. "The Times Lost Cities" presents an account of the peoples and the history of 50 of these phantom towns. Illustrated with plans of the cities themselves, maps of the key moments in their rise and downfall and pictures of the towns' remains and the artefacts of the people who lived there, "The Times Lost Cities" truly brings these lost worlds to life. With global coverage, from Great Zimbabwe and Luxor in Africa, to Tikal and Macchu Picchu in the Americas, from Mohenjo Daro in India, to Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the eternal city of Rome in Europe, the book is a view of history with an urban eye. Accompanied by a compelling text which charts the drama and tragedy of the cities' rise and decline, it is a lavish testament to a vanished time.