The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

David Grann’s The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (2009) tells the story of Percy Harrison Fawcett’s ill-fated expedition into the Brazilian jungle. After nearly two decades spent exploring the region and gathering evidence, Fawcett concluded that a sophisticated ancient civilization, a city he called Z, lay hidden deep in the Amazonian wilderness. In 1925, while searching for Z, Fawcett disappeared along with his son Jack and Jack’s friend Raleigh Rimell. Grann, a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, published an article about Fawcett in 2005, large portions of which are re-printed in The Lost City of Z. In both the book and the earlier article, the story of Grann’s research and subsequent journey into the Amazon runs parallel to the Fawcett story.

Summary

Obsession drives Fawcett deep into the Amazon in search of Z, a sophisticated ancient city in the depths of the Amazon. Obsession also drives Grann in search of answers to the mystery of Fawcett’s disappearance. The book’s structure allows Grann to tell both stories, side-by-side, as the narrative unfolds.

With a few exceptions, the book’s 25 chapters alternate between Fawcett’s story and Grann’s. The first three chapters serve introductory purposes. Then, chapters 4-13 alternate between the two stories, moving back and forth between past and present. Chapters 14-17 provide an interlude wherein Grann explains how Fawcett built his theory of Z, how that theory relates to the centuries-old legend of El Dorado, and how Fawcett’s obsession with Z deepened even as World War I delayed his search. The pattern of alternating between Fawcett and Grann resumes in Chapter 18 and continues through the end of the book. As Fawcett pursues Z, Grann pursues Fawcett. By the end of his pursuit, Grann realizes that searching for clues to the Fawcett mystery also involves searching for Z, and the two searches become indistinguishable.

Fawcett’s story begins in 1888. As a 21-year-old officer in the British Artillery, Fawcett is stationed in Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka. He grows restless, shows signs of rebelling against the expectations of Victorian society, and ventures into the jungle in search of ancient ruins. In later years, Fawcett compiles his private thoughts in a document entitled “Renegades from Civilization,” which survives in his private papers. The document’s title suggests an impulse on Fawcett’s part to escape civilization as often as possible, and the book’s early chapters establish this impulse as a major theme. In 1900, Fawcett studies exploration at London’s Royal Geographical Society (RGS). He receives his first surveying assignment in 1906 leading an expedition to help establish the border between Brazil and Bolivia. The mission concludes in 1907, and Fawcett returns a year later to explore the Rio Verde. Between 1906 and 1914, Fawcett leads six expeditions into the Brazilian and Bolivian jungles. Meanwhile, Grann conducts research into Fawcett’s life. Grann searches the RGS archives, reads logbooks and diaries preserved by Fawcett’s granddaughter, and purchases supplies in preparation for his own journey into the Amazon.

Fawcett develops his theory of Z over multiple expeditions. Though the scientific establishment at that time dismissed the Amazon as a “counterfeit paradise” that could not sustain an advanced civilization with a large population, Fawcett encounters evidence that suggests otherwise. The further he strays from the major rivers, for instance, the healthier and more numerous the native tribes appear. At higher altitudes, Fawcett finds shards of ancient pottery strewn everywhere. He observes geometric patterns that look like roads. Re-imagining the Amazon requires serious consideration of the 16th-century Spanish conquistadores’ reports of vast settlements along the Amazon River and its tributaries. Fawcett does not necessarily believe in El Dorado, the long-rumored city of gold that drew explorers to the region for centuries, but he does view the conquistadores’ reports as consistent with his own experiences.

As years pass, Fawcett grows increasingly maniacal in his quest for Z, but repeated obstacles frustrate his search. World War I delays him for four years while furthering his mental and spiritual estrangement from civilization. He also slips deeper into the occult world, in which he had dabbled as a younger man. In the war’s aftermath, he struggles to obtain funding for another expedition. He begins to regard other explorers as rivals in the search for Z and grows increasingly paranoid. He finally secures minimal funding for an expedition that ends in failure. He then bankrupts himself and impoverishes his family in pursuit of funding for a solo expedition, which also ends in disappointment. Finally, in 1924, he receives the necessary funding and embarks on his final expedition.

As Fawcett succumbs to his obsession and embarks upon his ill-fated journey, Grann prepares to follow Fawcett into the Amazon 80 years after Fawcett disappeared. In Brazil, Grann meets with James Lynch, a fellow Fawcett-enthusiast whose own Amazon adventure in 1996 ended when he and 11 of his companions were taken captive by Indigenous Brazilians. Grann then recruits Paulo Pinage, a former employee of Brazil’s Indian Protection Service, to guide him into the jungle. Grann learns that the Brazilian government’s efforts have helped many Indigenous tribes recover from centuries of decimation and begin to grow their numbers. On the other hand, ongoing construction of a hydroelectric dam results in the destruction of a sacred waterfall and causes consternation in one native village. Grann’s experience in Brazil, including his foray into the Amazon, highlights the Collision of Ancient and Modern Worlds, another of the book’s major themes.

Fawcett’s story ends in 1925 when he disappears without a trace. Grann’s story, which began as a pursuit of Fawcett-related clues and evolved into a search for Z, concludes in a Kuikuro village, where Grann meets the archaeologist Michael Heckenberger. Grann learns that Heckenberger has unearthed 20 pre-Columbian settlements in the Xingu River region, exactly where Fawcett expected to find Z. These are not the glittering ruins of El Dorado, but they do prove that Fawcett was correct in believing that an ancient civilization once thrived in the Amazon. Heckenberger shows Grann the evidence: ancient pottery, defensive ditches surrounding walled cities with circular plazas, roads, canals, even evidence of wooden bridges. Grann concludes that this “vanished world”, part of which survives in the native people who still live in the Amazon, constitutes the true Z.