Summary

In 1925, renowned British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett and his two companions disappeared in the Amazon jungles in search of a hidden ancient civilization he dubbed Z. Since then, hundreds of explorers and rescuers also vanished in search of Fawcett and his team, and the Lost City of Z. 

Journalist and author David Grann set out to solve the mystery of Fawcett’s disappearance and the Lost City of Z. What happened to Fawcett, and did the Lost City of Z truly exist?

Thoughts

I’ve come to love David Grann’s work over the last several months. I binged his entire collection of books he’s written this year. Grann’s talent for journalism translates well into the books he’s written. He has a talent for taking history and writing it so beautifully that you can’t help but get hooked fairly quickly. I have trouble putting down most of his books! I love history, and Grann’s ability to retell history clearly and excitingly is wonderful. It’s no wonder many of Grann’s books end up being adapted into movies!

The Lost City of Z is no short of a great work. I love how comprehensive Grann dives into Fawcett’s life and his expeditions, including the final one in 1925. What’s impressive is the lengths Grann goes to see first-hand artifacts of Fawcett’s life and trace the same path as Fawcett in the jungle – a true journalist! As mentioned earlier, Grann’s writing is clear and concise, exciting, and his words easily paint a picture as you read. Using as many 1st hand accounts as possible, I appreciate Grann re-creating scenarios and dialogues that transport me back to the 1910s and 1920s. I think that’s what keeps me so engaged as opposed to other historical books. I found the novel to be a page-turner and suspenseful.

“Anthropologists,” Heckenberger said, “made the mistake of coming into the Amazon in the twentieth century and seeing only small tribes and saying, ‘Well, that’s all there is.’ The problem is that, by then, many Indian populations had already been wiped out by what was essentially a holocaust from European contact. That’s why the first Europeans in the Amazon described such massive settlements that, later, no one could ever find.”

David Grann, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

Rating & Recommendation

I rate this book a 5 out of 5. It was a page-turner for me. I’ve never heard of the Lost City of Z or Percy Fawcett, but this book told me everything I needed to know. If you want history, adventures, and to dive into the unknown Amazon jungles and its many tribes, this book is for you. It was an easy read, and I couldn’t help but continue my research of the Amazon and all the tribes mentioned in the book.

Check out The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann on Goodreads or Amazon Canada.