Gift from Lou Carver and Doug Boe, Christmas 2009.

*Warning: contains spoilers.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, despite a truly horrendous cover design (compare to the Weekly World News, the sadly defunct supermarket tabloid responsible for such groundbreaking journalism as "Batboy Lives!") and titillating title, is surprisingly well written. What David Grann lacks in survival skills he compensates for with literary ability. He also has a journalist’s eye for a story.

In 1925 veteran explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett journeyed into the Brazilian jungle with his son in search of a mythical lost city which he called "Z". The party was never seen or heard from again. Over the following decades expeditions were mounted to find out what happened. All failed (some disastrously). The disappearance of Fawcett and the possible existence of “Z” had captured the public’s imagination. As is usually the case, a cottage industry grew around the story. Some claimed the explorers went “native” and produced their white/Indian offspring (in reality albinos) as proof. Artifacts and messages from the doomed party were “discovered”. Sightings were reported. Psychics became involved. As recently as 2005 the Guardian newspaper published an article Veil Lifts on Jungle Mystery of the Colonel Who Vanished claiming that:

According to previously hidden private papers, it appears that Fawcett had no intention of ever returning to Britain and, perhaps lured by a native she-god or spirit guide whose beautiful image haunts the family archive, he planned instead to set up a commune in the jungle, based on a bizarre cult.

Into this circus walked David Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker. He was given access to journals by the family that shed light on the route Fawcett's party had taken. Based on the new information Grann decided to mount his own expedition into the Brazilian jungles - following an 80-year-old trail and with no wilderness experience to speak of. Think Survivor meets the History Channel.

It should have been a great story…

Full review:
http://booksexy.wordpress.com/2009/12... ( )

I liked this book, but possibly would have liked it even more if it was more about the City of Z, which call me crazy but I was sort of expecting from the title.

The bulk of the book is about British explorer Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925 while trying to locate a fabled city, which he called Z. Fawcett is a pretty interesting character, he was downright kooky, in ways that were very much of his time, and also then in other ways that were more uniquely his. I never got quite clear on whether he expected to find the ruins of a city, or a city that was inhabited by the people who built it, or other random people, or what exactly. (In some vague way, I kept picturing it inhabited by monkeys and snakes, like the live action Jungle Book movie.)

At practically the 11th hour, book-wise, the author does introduce some information about current research that indicates city/town-based cultures did indeed thrive in the rain forest. That felt a little rushed and I was let down; I had expected more of the focus to be on the city (or the potential city) and less on the whackadoo explorer guy. Part of my problem might be that I am already fairly well up on the my crazy early 20th century exploration antics so I didn't find Fawcett's particularly shocking or surprising. Mildly interesting, yes, but not "oh my gosh, I've never heard of such a thing before!"

Grade: B-
Recommended: I sound more lukewarm about this than I am, I think it would be much enjoyed by people who are interested in the Amazon environment and the economic and social history of that region. ( )

Why, oh why, did I let David Grann’s The Lost City of Z languish on my TBR pile for so long? Chronicling his growing obsession with early twentieth-century explorer Percy Fawcett, who was himself obsessed with mapping South America and finding the legendary lost city of El Dorado (which Fawcett simply refers to as “Z”), Grann deftly weaves information from dozens of primary sources into a gripping narrative that tracks Fawcett’s Amazon adventures, the hundreds of explorers who lost their lives trying to solve the mystery of what happened to him, and his own journey into the Amazon.

The Lost City of Z is, at its core, a story about adventure and adventurers. Grann investigates Fawcett’s drive to be the first man to uncover Z, his ongoing competition with other explorers, and his insistence on discovery at all costs. Incorporating information from official documents, Fawcett’s own private communications, interviews with experts and Fawcett’s descendants, and much, more more, Grann gives life to the most exciting story you’ve never heard and, like the best storytellers, he saves the best surprise for the big finish.

I devoured The Lost City of Z in just a few sittings and was very impressed with Grann’s ability to combine his story with Fawcett’s so seamlessly. I’d recommend this book for longtime lovers of nonfiction and newcomers who want to enjoy a true story that reads with all of the excitement and tension of a good mystery. ( )

A meticulously researched chronicle of Colonel Percy Fawcett and his many expeditions into the Amazon at the turn of the century.

He was an extraordinary man; a quick learner, possessor of an iron will, steely determination and an unrivaled confidence in his abilities. He truly went where none had gone before.

This is the story of his education by the Royal Geographic Society, his many expeditions into the Amazon jungles, and finally his search for the spectacular Lost City of Z. It tells of his family, colleagues and later the researchers who tried to find him and any trace of his final lost expedition.

You get the feeling that you are step in step with Fawcett in his travels, with occasional insights into the how and why of his world.

Later, the author, a non-traveler, takes his own journey to the Amazon jungle to try and follow Fawcett and possibly find out definitively what became of him.

Does he succeed? It's well worth the time to find out! ( )