In 1925, famed British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon with his son Jack and Jack’s best friend, Raleigh, in search of the remains of a lost city Fawcett cryptically named “Z”. Despite the assurances of anthropologists that the Amazon was a “counterfeit paradise” unable of sustaining a large population, Fawcett was certain that the tales of the Indians he had encountered, the shards of exquisite pottery he had unearthed in the jungle, and the shadows of ancient thoroughfares he thought he had traced over the landscape all pointed to a lost civilization built by a populous and highly advanced people. Fawcett’s dream of finding Z would not be easily achieved. The Amazon was still largely an unexplored mystery full of poisonous pit vipers, massive anacondas, and an abundance of deadly insects that spread yellow fever and malaria. And although some Indian tribes greeted white explorers with friendly caution, others were not so benevolent.

Yet Fawcett, who had become a preeminent South American explorer, seemed assured of success. When he and his companions sent a dispatch back from the village of a friendly Indian tribe they warned friends and relatives that they might be unable to communicate for up to two years. They were confident that during the course of those years they would find Z and unlock its ancient secrets, and the world waited with baited breath for the conclusion of their daring adventure. It never came.

Percy Fawcett disappeared, and it is the fate of he and his young companions – as well as the existence or illusion of Z – that David Grann explores in his book The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Grann ventures into the Amazon, following Fawcett’s trail and seeking out the Indian tribes who may hold the key to the explorers’ fates. Through the narrative of his own journey he weaves the tale of Fawcett’s early expeditions, his remarkable ability to survive the most treacherous conditions, and his growing obsession with a lost civilization which may be the fabled El Dorado. It is an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones, a thrilling peek into a part of the world where the past is alive, jealously guarding its secrets.