| The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon | |
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First edition cover design |
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| Author(s) | David Grann |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Publication date | February 2009 |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 978-0385513531 |
| OCLC Number | 226038067 |
| Dewey Decimal | 918.1/1046 22 |
| LC Classification | F2546 .G747 2009 |
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (2009) is a non-fiction book by American author David Grann. It tells the story of the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, disappeared with his son in the Amazon while looking for an ancient lost city. For decades, explorers and scientists have tried to find evidence of his party and the Lost City of Z. Perhaps as many as 100 people perished or disappeared searching for Fawcett over the years. Grann made his own journey into the Amazon, revealing new evidence about how Fawcett died and showing that Z may have really existed right under his feet.[1]
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Published in February 2009, The Lost City of Z was reviewed in the Sunday New York Times by Rich Cohen, who called it "a powerful narrative, stiff lipped and Victorian at the center, trippy at the edges, as if one of those stern men of Conrad had found himself trapped in a novel by García Márquez."[2] The New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani named it one of the ten best books of 2009.[3] In her review of the book, she wrote that it "is at once a biography, a detective story and a wonderfully vivid piece of travel writing that combines Bruce Chatwinesque powers of observation with a Waugh-like sense of the absurd. Mr. Grann treats us to a harrowing reconstruction of Fawcett’s forays into the Amazonian jungle, as well as an evocative rendering of the vanished age of exploration. ... Suspenseful … Rollicking ... Fascinating ... It reads with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller and all the verisimilitude and detail of firsthand reportage.”[4] The Washington Post called it "a thrill ride from start to finish.”[5] It was also reviewed by author Simon Winchester in The Wall Street Journal, who called the book "captivating."[6] The book was named to countless best and notable books of the year lists, including Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Publisher's Weekly, Sunday New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, Providence Journal, Globe and Mail, Evening Standard, Amazon, and McClatchy Newspapers. Barnes and Noble named it the single best nonfiction book of 2009.
The Lost City of Z was optioned by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures. A film has yet to be produced.[7]