REVIEW: The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z
Author: David Grann

Percy Fawcett, a famous British explorer in the 20th century, disappeared into the Amazon jungle with his son and his son's best friend in 1925. Fawcett was searching for an ancient lost city that he called Z. The 3 men were never seen again. Over the decades after their disappearance, several teams and even individuals ventured into the dense jungle to find the famed explorer. Some of them reappeared weeks or months later sick and emaciated, and some were never seen again. No real trace of Fawcett was ever found. Plenty of rumors and lies......but no bodies or real evidence as to their fate. Fawcett's wife was never the same again. Flash forward to modern times, and New Yorker writer David Grann also goes to the Amazon jungle in search of evidence of Fawcett's fate.

I love history and tales of the old style explorers....the men who trekked off into the unknown just because it was unknown. Not the sort of people who explored to make money, or to gain renown. But real explorers....the ones who mapped the world, discovered indigenous peoples and didn't plot to murder them all or evangelize them, the ones who climbed, trekked and discovered new places just because they were there. Fawcett was one of these men. Unfortunately, as with many explorers, his belief in himself, his obsession with his quest and his feelings of invincibility eventually caught up with him -- and he took two young men with him. He escaped fate multiple times.....but it catches up with everyone eventually. In 1925, he walked into the jungle in a valiant attempt to search for the Lost City of Z that he knew to his soul was there, and disappeared forever into the mysteries and tall tales that grow from such stories.

Just a head's up for readers -- this is not a fictionalized story. This is a non-fiction account of the history of exploration in the Amazon jungle, the story of Fawcett's life and treks around the world, the fate of other explorers of the time, facts about his son and friend that went along on the 1925 trip, and the aftermath of the disappearance. There is also an accounting of David Grann's trip to the Amazon to glean facts about the fate of Fawcett, the local indigenous peoples and how the area has changed since the 1920s.  Readers who don't like historical accounts of facts and information might want to pass this book by.  But, for those who enjoy history....this story is awesome!!  I loved this book! Anyone who enjoyed Douglas Preston's recent book, The Lost City of the Monkey God, will also enjoy this book.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. Read by Mark Deakins, the audio is just over 10 hours long. Deakins reads at a nice pace with an even, pleasant tone. I have hearing loss but was easily able to understand this entire book.

It is obvious that Grann did a lot of detailed research into Amazon exploration, Fawcett and many other treks around the world at the time. He gives details of Fawcett's journals and news stories from the time, and information gleaned from Amazon natives and others. Such an interesting and intriguing story!!

Because the book includes information gleaned from writings, journals and other sources from the time, there are some racist overtones in portions of this story. Many scientists, explorers, politicians, journalists -- hell, even the general white populus -- viewed indigenous peoples (or people of color in general) as lesser human beings, stating that there is no possible way they ever created a large society because it would be impossible for them to do so. At times as I listened, I found myself making snarky remarks to these long-dead idiots. Some of those old views were what started horrible and asinine beliefs/movements like eugenics, or cultural destruction by evangelization. Oh, we are white and must go to these countries and whitesplain to the natives that they are inferior, and must mold to our moral ideals or perish.  Blah, blah, blah. What a load of racist crap. My take on the entire matter is this:  how could anyone believe themselves superior to people who can survive and thrive in the most hazardous and inhospitable parts of the world when the whites who ventured there died in droves?? But as they were venturing into the jungle and dying of disease, starvation, accidents, predation, and native attacks,  they wholeheartedly believed themselves freaking superior because of the color of their skin and their fat, sheltered lives in the modern world. Really??  Seems to me the people that can survive and feed themselves in that place are the superior ones.

Amazon has released an original movie based on this book. I wanted to watch it, but had to follow my rule of always reading the book first. Now that I've read the book, I can enjoy the film! :) I hope it keeps the integrity of Grann's research and doesn't fall into over-grandizing fiction, rather than the interesting true facts of the case.

David Grann is the author of several books including The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession. I'm definitely going to be reading more of his books!