Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humankind. For centuries Europeans believed the world’s largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.Īfter stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve “the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century”: What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z? A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. Did you watch it? Is it good?Ī grand mystery reaching back centuries. I stared at my markings, hoping that they might lead me out of the Amazon, rather than deeper into itįor a moment, I could see this vanished world as if it were right in front of me. It was wet and crumpled, the lines I had raced to highlight my route now faded. In 2004, Heckenberger published the fruit of his research in a book that sounds very fascinating: T he Ecology of Power: Culture, Place and Personhood in the Southern Amazon, AD 1000-2000. On p.273, Grann mentions his meeting with Heckenberger, an archeologist who spent so much time in that region that the local chief has even had a hut built near his own in the Indian village. I learned a lot about these ancient civilizations, and I want to read more about them now. This masterpiece is an irresistible page turner. It is quite fascinating to see where an idea can lead you once it becomes an obsession. He also debunks what scientists had been thinking at one point, and some may still today, about the native populations of these places. He is superb at describing the crazy survival conditions of the Amazon river and area. The author goes back and forth between Fawcett’s fate, as well as all those who tried to find him afterward, and his own trip. The book combines geography, history (we are talking here 1,000 to 2,000 years ago), archaeology, mystery, adventure tales, or tales of madness. How more can you research on your hero, I consider Fawcett as a hero, than go where he went, at the risk of your own life and sanity? Grann had of course modern means and safety nets that Fawcett did not have, but still, not anyone is ready to leave for the Amazon region. This is an amazing book, very well researched and crafted.

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