Posted by Hey All! I finished reading “The Lost City of Z” by David Grann, and I can say that Mr. Grann is one of my favorite authors.
“The Lost City of Z” is half a historical narrative of a lost explorer and half a lesson in the theory of hardcore research. In it, Grann takes readers into the life, work, and disappearance of British geographer, researcher, and explorer Percy Fawcett. Born in 1867, Fawcett grew into an admirer of the unexplored Amazon rainforest, a region of immense historical significance. In the 18- and 1900s, the area had yet to be fully mapped out and explored, and Western adventurists vied to be “the firsts” to do so.
Fawcett, an English military officer who served in WWI, developed a fascination/obsession with a former civilization that once inhabited the Amazon rainforest. In lore passed down from generation through generation via oral narratives, the City of Z was so great and so advanced. It provided for thousands of inhabitants and was said to have immense gold and treasures throughout the city and built architecture. Fawcett made it his mission to find the former city with the help of the Royal Geographical Society, a body founded in 1830 to cover geographical studies, to locate Z and be the first to map the area.
Over several years, many trips, and pit stops, readers learn about Fawcett, the broader attitudes toward exploration, and the writer’s unwavering dedication to his subject. Grann’s book, at least to me, was a testament to his meticulous detail, thorough research, and relentless investigation. He tracked down Fawcett’s living relatives (descendants from children), poured over countless documents, including records written on fading papers used in the early 1900s, and followed the routes laid out by the original explorer himself.
David Grann took the same route as Fawcett and tried to invoke the explorer’s sensibilities while traveling throughout Brazil.
The story’s focus and the heart of the legend behind Fawcett was his disappearance. During his last trip to the Amazon, he stopped communicating with his wife and other professionals. He traveled with his son and his son’s best friend to the area, and the three of them were never heard from again. From that point on, finding out what happened to the travelers became an adventure itself. Hundreds of explorers traveled to Brazil to find Fawcett and his crew.
Grann was able to piece together theories and notions about the missing three, but it wasn’t until the very end that readers got a clear picture of the Lost City of Z and Fawcett.
The setup, development, and layout of the book were fantastic! I loved the split in time between Fawcett in the 1920s and Grann researching in the early aughts. Please note that this book was printed in 2009. Also, I recently picked it up Grann’s latest, “The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder.” (Expect that review soon.)
For me, “The Lost City of Z” is definitely one of my favorite reads this year.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Five stars).
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