---
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title: "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon"
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# The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

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## Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction “with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller”( The New York Times ) that unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century—the story of the legendary British explorer who ventured into the desertcart jungle in search of a fabled civilization and never returned. "[Grann is] one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."— New York Magazine After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed writer David Grann set out to determine what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z. For centuries Europeans believed the desertcart, the world’s largest rain forest, concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the desertcart was truly inimical to humankind. In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the desertcart to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. Then he vanished. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager !

Review: Good reading for explorers - I found this book interesting in many ways. It was easy to read since it touched many subjects that are familiar to me. The book covers historic facts of the Victorian age and its influence in the world but specially South America and the countries of Bolivia and Brazil whose desertcartian region was and is difficult to explore or study. It is well balanced since the book covers many areas that help understand different points of view of previous times compared to present times. I found answers to questions that come up as you read this book. For instance, to refer to the tribes that populate the desertcartian forests as savages, made me question who is anyone to judge, specially after the atrocities of WWI, described in the book as well as all the inhuman spectacle of WW2. Also, it explains what was happening in the areas related to the fields he got to be involved in like archeology and the discovery of Machu Pichu which may have influenced him. Fawcett’s motivations could have been banal if they were glory or becoming famous but he showed an ethical position not usual in his time which was to approach the indigenous people in a non violent way, trying not to use arms and ordering to drop arms even if danger was felt. He would raise his hands and confront the Indians which gave him good results since he got to be treated as a sort of friend. This respectful behavior, considering the times, was something positive to take in account when trying to define Fawcett's personality which could show his humanity, something to learn from him. Now, consider that Indiana Jones is partly based in the real life of Percy Fawcett and P.F. is one of the characters of one of his movies; however, Indiana Jones had no problem in shooting for entertainment. Having lived in Bolivia and having done some exploration myself I may have a different take to this adventure. To start, one of Fawcett's motivation was as normal as to answer why people climb mountains, the answer is,” because it's there". I have done hiking going from La Paz at 12000 ft. above sea level to about 15000 ft. and then down to the tropics of Yungas which is the start of the desertcartian jungle all along an Inca road which was partly well preserved considering hundreds of years of use. After getting familiar with this subtropical region, it happened that I read The mines of King Salomon and this book, cited in Grann's book as well, inspired me to go farther. My plan was to go to an uncharted area in the forest called Madidi, which is a national park now. My motivation was just to see what no one else has seen. I was able to enlist two university friends who seemed interested but who back down at the last minute. Next year I tried again but I had a sudden back ache problem. Going back to the book, Fawcett's intentions may have been to attain fame by finding not El Dorado but something like Machu Pichu which was “found” in 1911. He visited Cusco and Tiahuanacu and was able to marvel at the achievements of these civilizations. But destiny put him in the Bolivian jungle with the aid of the British government, it wasn't something that he was looking for but that opened his eyes and his innate explorer spirit. Before I even finished reading this book I was compelled to read about the original source, Percy Fawcett's own words, compiled in a book “Lost trail, lost cities” by Brian Fawcett, his son. By reading it, I found out that in his first trip he was hired by the Bolivian government, P. Fawcett does not mention Brazil in the first expedition which was actually work. Now, there are historical details that are not clear. The border problem between Bolivia and Brazil was already established in 1903 after a short war between these two countries and the result was the annexation of the Acre, an area of 190,000 square Kilometers (75,000 sq mls), more than ¾ the size of UK. By the way, something that this book could have in next edition is a better map, the map of Bolivia is not clear. There are details in the Fawcett's book that could have been part of Grann's book or even the movie, like the moment when, after departing La Paz, one of many mules P.F. had, runs away and that was the mule that had the $£1000 in gold he received as part of the payment from the Bolivian government, an interesting historical detail, a “jingling treasure” in the saddle bags. However, Fawcett explains that the mule was brought back by local people who he rewarded. P .F. describes foreigners by name but there is no mention of Bolivian dignitaries with the exception of the president of Bolivia who was taking matters with his own hands and who knew these lands very well. The region next to the Brazilian border bears his name, Pando. “All who have lived in these lands and learned to know them fell captive to their irresistible charm”, Fawcett writes as part of his reflexions. Is this one of the motives he kept coming back?
Review: Life unbelievable..Percy H. Fawcett - There was a time men explored the planet earth, driven by the need to know. Fame was secondary, their internal urges drove them on. Most prominent were the pole explorers during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. But there were other places to explore, some the exact opposite, hot, teeming places overriden with life, bursting with new flora and fauna. Africa and South America attracted these men as it had attracted others four hundred years earlier, but for different reasons. Lack of education and scientific knowledge did not stop them then, nor did the same stop these later explorers. One of the most famous of them was Percy H. Fawcett, a legend in his own time, a forgotten man now. David Grann has resurrected this man from obscurity. I had never heard of him, never knew of the countless searches for him, until I read this book, "The Lost City Of Z". I was fascinated by his story. Grann told a lot of his life, using his biography almost like a novel but interspersing his account with factual data yet without disrupting the drama. I met, through the book's pages, many interesting characters who also led interesting lives, intersecting their own efforts with that of this daring explorer. Some of his cohorts were unable to keep up with Fawcett, he, in turn, was unable to gauge them correctly and got rid of them as soon as possible without killing them, in fact, in some instances, very few to be truthful, he failed in his mission because he knew if he did not fail these men he did not like would die in the wilderness. So he put their lives above his drive but he did not change hisopinion of them and refused to have anything good to say about them later and wanted nothing to do with them. Money was a constant worry for Fawcett except that he did not let this stop him, he bargained with the Royal Geographic Society constantly for funding for expeditions he wanted to do. He had help from many members of the Society but he also was shocked at times to see others gather what he did not. Consequently he would go on expeditions underfunded but still perfornm enormous work for the society and gain knowledge of the planet for others to use. He also had competition for his life's dream, the discovery of El Dorado which he called Z. Hence the title of the book. Fawcett never returned from an expedtion he was on in 1925. He took his eldest son with him and a friend of his son, both young men he planned on depending upon. Raleigh Rimell was this friend's name and it developed that he was ot equal to the efforts expected if him by either the father or son. He lacked their natural immunity, or whatever it was that made them seem immune to insect attack or biological, but father and son did not care, they seemed to think he was supposed to be their equal and treated him as such until he failed them. Where Grann got this information from he never says, he often throws such tidbits of knowledge into his account of Fawcett without explanation. Grann takes it upon himself to track down the final exploration and finds everybody seemingly bending over backwards to aid him, to give him knowledge no one else was able to gain, and he uses this experience to allow him to say things with authority and lend credence to his conclusions. Grann goes by himself to South America, gets a truck driver to take him over Fawcett's newly mapped route and get several tales of fawcett's last appearance, even getting some of the Brazilian natives to tell him how they lied to some of the authorities about what they knew of these last days. The book is actually two stories in one, a biography of Fawcett and also Grann's attempt to find out what happened to him. The contrast between the two lifetimes is startling, such a change in such a comparatively short time. Grann makes sure the reader learns it, he tells him what it was like to live earlier, then brings him up-to-date on presnt conditions. A lot is left out, but present expeditions are much better equipped, more knowledgable (and more expensive) but do avoid most of what made the earlier expeditions so dangerous. The natives are tamed, the forest destroyed where Grann ventured, but he does not mention the insects. Did he have insecticides with him or was destroying the forest enough to lower the danger? Many questions left unanswered. But it still took time. Percy Fawcett's descendants were scattered, Graann had to look them up. It all added up to the time it took him to write the book. No absolute answers are given, it is up to the reader to decide for himself what these answers are. tags: Percy Fawcett, desertcart, brazil, exploring expeditions, El Dorado

## Features

- Great product!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #17,948 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #5 in South American History (Books) #11 in Expeditions & Discoveries World History (Books) #18 in Adventure Travel (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 12,798 Reviews |

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good reading for explorers
*by M***G on September 29, 2017*

I found this book interesting in many ways. It was easy to read since it touched many subjects that are familiar to me. The book covers historic facts of the Victorian age and its influence in the world but specially South America and the countries of Bolivia and Brazil whose Amazonian region was and is difficult to explore or study. It is well balanced since the book covers many areas that help understand different points of view of previous times compared to present times. I found answers to questions that come up as you read this book. For instance, to refer to the tribes that populate the Amazonian forests as savages, made me question who is anyone to judge, specially after the atrocities of WWI, described in the book as well as all the inhuman spectacle of WW2. Also, it explains what was happening in the areas related to the fields he got to be involved in like archeology and the discovery of Machu Pichu which may have influenced him. Fawcett’s motivations could have been banal if they were glory or becoming famous but he showed an ethical position not usual in his time which was to approach the indigenous people in a non violent way, trying not to use arms and ordering to drop arms even if danger was felt. He would raise his hands and confront the Indians which gave him good results since he got to be treated as a sort of friend. This respectful behavior, considering the times, was something positive to take in account when trying to define Fawcett's personality which could show his humanity, something to learn from him. Now, consider that Indiana Jones is partly based in the real life of Percy Fawcett and P.F. is one of the characters of one of his movies; however, Indiana Jones had no problem in shooting for entertainment. Having lived in Bolivia and having done some exploration myself I may have a different take to this adventure. To start, one of Fawcett's motivation was as normal as to answer why people climb mountains, the answer is,” because it's there". I have done hiking going from La Paz at 12000 ft. above sea level to about 15000 ft. and then down to the tropics of Yungas which is the start of the Amazonian jungle all along an Inca road which was partly well preserved considering hundreds of years of use. After getting familiar with this subtropical region, it happened that I read The mines of King Salomon and this book, cited in Grann's book as well, inspired me to go farther. My plan was to go to an uncharted area in the forest called Madidi, which is a national park now. My motivation was just to see what no one else has seen. I was able to enlist two university friends who seemed interested but who back down at the last minute. Next year I tried again but I had a sudden back ache problem. Going back to the book, Fawcett's intentions may have been to attain fame by finding not El Dorado but something like Machu Pichu which was “found” in 1911. He visited Cusco and Tiahuanacu and was able to marvel at the achievements of these civilizations. But destiny put him in the Bolivian jungle with the aid of the British government, it wasn't something that he was looking for but that opened his eyes and his innate explorer spirit. Before I even finished reading this book I was compelled to read about the original source, Percy Fawcett's own words, compiled in a book “Lost trail, lost cities” by Brian Fawcett, his son. By reading it, I found out that in his first trip he was hired by the Bolivian government, P. Fawcett does not mention Brazil in the first expedition which was actually work. Now, there are historical details that are not clear. The border problem between Bolivia and Brazil was already established in 1903 after a short war between these two countries and the result was the annexation of the Acre, an area of 190,000 square Kilometers (75,000 sq mls), more than ¾ the size of UK. By the way, something that this book could have in next edition is a better map, the map of Bolivia is not clear. There are details in the Fawcett's book that could have been part of Grann's book or even the movie, like the moment when, after departing La Paz, one of many mules P.F. had, runs away and that was the mule that had the $£1000 in gold he received as part of the payment from the Bolivian government, an interesting historical detail, a “jingling treasure” in the saddle bags. However, Fawcett explains that the mule was brought back by local people who he rewarded. P .F. describes foreigners by name but there is no mention of Bolivian dignitaries with the exception of the president of Bolivia who was taking matters with his own hands and who knew these lands very well. The region next to the Brazilian border bears his name, Pando. “All who have lived in these lands and learned to know them fell captive to their irresistible charm”, Fawcett writes as part of his reflexions. Is this one of the motives he kept coming back?

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Life unbelievable..Percy H. Fawcett
*by M***N on May 1, 2011*

There was a time men explored the planet earth, driven by the need to know. Fame was secondary, their internal urges drove them on. Most prominent were the pole explorers during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. But there were other places to explore, some the exact opposite, hot, teeming places overriden with life, bursting with new flora and fauna. Africa and South America attracted these men as it had attracted others four hundred years earlier, but for different reasons. Lack of education and scientific knowledge did not stop them then, nor did the same stop these later explorers. One of the most famous of them was Percy H. Fawcett, a legend in his own time, a forgotten man now. David Grann has resurrected this man from obscurity. I had never heard of him, never knew of the countless searches for him, until I read this book, "The Lost City Of Z". I was fascinated by his story. Grann told a lot of his life, using his biography almost like a novel but interspersing his account with factual data yet without disrupting the drama. I met, through the book's pages, many interesting characters who also led interesting lives, intersecting their own efforts with that of this daring explorer. Some of his cohorts were unable to keep up with Fawcett, he, in turn, was unable to gauge them correctly and got rid of them as soon as possible without killing them, in fact, in some instances, very few to be truthful, he failed in his mission because he knew if he did not fail these men he did not like would die in the wilderness. So he put their lives above his drive but he did not change hisopinion of them and refused to have anything good to say about them later and wanted nothing to do with them. Money was a constant worry for Fawcett except that he did not let this stop him, he bargained with the Royal Geographic Society constantly for funding for expeditions he wanted to do. He had help from many members of the Society but he also was shocked at times to see others gather what he did not. Consequently he would go on expeditions underfunded but still perfornm enormous work for the society and gain knowledge of the planet for others to use. He also had competition for his life's dream, the discovery of El Dorado which he called Z. Hence the title of the book. Fawcett never returned from an expedtion he was on in 1925. He took his eldest son with him and a friend of his son, both young men he planned on depending upon. Raleigh Rimell was this friend's name and it developed that he was ot equal to the efforts expected if him by either the father or son. He lacked their natural immunity, or whatever it was that made them seem immune to insect attack or biological, but father and son did not care, they seemed to think he was supposed to be their equal and treated him as such until he failed them. Where Grann got this information from he never says, he often throws such tidbits of knowledge into his account of Fawcett without explanation. Grann takes it upon himself to track down the final exploration and finds everybody seemingly bending over backwards to aid him, to give him knowledge no one else was able to gain, and he uses this experience to allow him to say things with authority and lend credence to his conclusions. Grann goes by himself to South America, gets a truck driver to take him over Fawcett's newly mapped route and get several tales of fawcett's last appearance, even getting some of the Brazilian natives to tell him how they lied to some of the authorities about what they knew of these last days. The book is actually two stories in one, a biography of Fawcett and also Grann's attempt to find out what happened to him. The contrast between the two lifetimes is startling, such a change in such a comparatively short time. Grann makes sure the reader learns it, he tells him what it was like to live earlier, then brings him up-to-date on presnt conditions. A lot is left out, but present expeditions are much better equipped, more knowledgable (and more expensive) but do avoid most of what made the earlier expeditions so dangerous. The natives are tamed, the forest destroyed where Grann ventured, but he does not mention the insects. Did he have insecticides with him or was destroying the forest enough to lower the danger? Many questions left unanswered. But it still took time. Percy Fawcett's descendants were scattered, Graann had to look them up. It all added up to the time it took him to write the book. No absolute answers are given, it is up to the reader to decide for himself what these answers are. tags: Percy Fawcett, amazon, brazil, exploring expeditions, El Dorado

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ WOW, What a Stunning, Surprise Ending! Amazing!
*by J***D on May 9, 2009*

Forty years ago, when I was young and crazy, I made three trips down the Amazon River or it's tributaries. That's what made me want to read this true-life story of one of the most enduring mysteries of jungle exploration. I can vouch for the book's descriptions of endless jungle, every kind of insect and disease one can imagine, poison snakes everywhere, piranhas (although this book failed to point out those flesh eating fish are usually only found in quiet pools, not where the current is strong) and the fact that traveling on the ground is next to impossible. It would have been much more dangerous when explorer Lt. Colonel Percy Fawcett was doing it. Starvation was one of the reasons that so many explorers died in the jungle, because as described so accurately in this account, it is next to impossible to even see any game that could be eaten, much less managing to kill and eat it. Living off the land is next to impossible for non-Indians. Some insect bites wouldn't cause much of a problem at the time they occurred, but would kill the victim years later. The Amazon jungle really is a "Green Hell." Fawcett's friend Conan Dole used some of Fawcett's tales in his classic "The Lost World." Fawcett considered himself invincible. He enjoyed a remarkable constitution that made him appear to be resistant of most diseases and insect bites. Unarmed, he often walked slowly toward savage, hostile Indians with his arms raised and gifts for them held high as poison darts and six and seven-foot arrows whizzed by his head and even passed between his legs. He was absolutely fearless and that trait was often demonstrated when he fought in the trenches of World War I. He received the British "Distinguished Service Order" medal and a rank of Lt. Colonel for that valorous service. It may be that Fawcett began to believe in his own invincibility that pushed him too far and cost him his life along with that of his eldest son Jack and Jack's friend who was also part of Fawcett's final three-man exploration? Fawcett was one of the last "folk heroes" who explored those pesky blank spots on the world's maps. He made several mapping expeditions into the jungle prior to World War I. He was certain that a mighty civilization had once existed in the vast stretches of the Amazon River Basin. He believed the reports of the earliest explorers and found various pieces of evidence on his own such as wonderful pottery. The media reports of his various exploits captured the imagination of the civilized world. In one description of the maggots that quickly infested infections and were literally impossible to remove, he reported how some Indians treated the problems. "The Echojas would make a curious whistling noise with their tongues, and at once the grub's head would issue from the blowhole. Then the Indians would give the sore a quick squeeze and the invader was ejected. I sucked, whistled, protested, and even played the flute to mine, with absolutely no effect." Another sample of jungle trivia regarded snakebites. It the puncher wound bleeds, the snake wasn't poisonous. If the fang wounds didn't bleed, and produced a bluish patch, the snake was poisonous. Useful advice for anyone playing "Hide and Seek" with members of the serpent world. He also reported spying an anaconda that he insisted was at least sixty feet in length and even after he had shot it, it revived and "jolted toward Fawcett and his party--sending them fleeing in fear." In 1911 Hiram Bingham discovered the Fabled Inca City of Machu Picchu. Like Fawcett's legendary city of Z or El Dorado, Machu Picchu had long been regarded as myth. Bingham's discovery probably provided hope that he too would succeed in his search for Z, whose existence most experts had discounted as an impossibility because it couldn't possibly have been produced by small groups of savages. This book's author went off to retrace Fawcett's last journey in hopes of finally solving this lasting mystery. He was better equipped than Fawcett and had some new leads to follow. He definitely didn't have a death wish and didn't want to become one of the 100 or so rescuers who over the years had also disappeared into the jungle while searching for Fawcett. Since the last true-life adventure story I read and reviewed was about the ill-fated Donner Wagon Train getting snowed in for the winter in the mountain passes on their way to California, I didn't really expect to enjoy this tome as much as that nail-biting tale. Wrong, they are different, but what happens in this last chapter of this book will send you rushing to Amazon (the book seller, not the place) in search of a couple of books by Florida archaeologist Michael Heckenberger and Anna Roosevelt. She is Teddy's great-granddaughter, "who is an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, and has excavated a cave near Santarem, in the Brazilian Amazon, that was filled with rock paintings--renditions of animal and human figures similar to those that Fawcett had described seeing in various parts of the Amazon and that bolstered his theory of Z. Buried in the cave were remains of a settlement at least ten thousand years old..." WOW, I hope Fawcett and his eldest son Jack are still watching the unfolding current events here on Planet Earth and smiling and giving each other high-fives. Great Adventure, well told.

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