Reviews
“Suspenseful. . . . Rollicking. . . . Reads with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller. . . . The Lost City of Z 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.” -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Breathtaking. . . . Grann brings Fawcett’s remarkable story to a beautifully written, perfectly paced fruition. . . . Any writer who can breathe life into letters written by scientists in the early 1900s deserves more than a hat tip.” - The Los Angeles Times “Brilliant. . . . Impressively researched and skillfully crafted. . . . Grann makes abundantly clear in this fascinating, epic story of exploration and obsession, [that] the lethal attraction of the Amazon mystery remains strong.” - The Boston Globe “A smart biographical page-turner.” - USA Today “Grann escapes death and tracks down Z, giving the reader the kind of Indiana Jones kicks best experienced vicariously.” - Details “A riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.” -John Grisham “Thoroughly researched, vividly told. . . . Grann recounts Fawcett’s expeditions with all the pace of a white-knuckle adventure story. . . . A thrill ride from start to finish.” - The Washington Post “The story of Z goes to the heart of the central questions of our age. In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins? A fascinating and brilliant book.” -Malcolm Gladwell “A spellbinding tale that produces fresh surprises around each turn. . . . An amazing story.” - Dallas Morning News “A fascinating yarn that touches on science, history, and some truly obsessive personalities.” - Entertainment Weekly “There is something about Fawcett’s spirit and self-assurance that captivates. . . . To read The Lost City of Z is to feel grateful that Grann himself bothered to set out for the Amazon in search of the bones of an explorer whose body was long ago reclaimed by the jungle.” - Christian Science Monitor “In a hyperconnected and exhaustively charted world, here is a revelation about wildness and the mad desire to plunge into it. . . . Unfathomably riveting. . . . Grann wildly delivers the goods.” - GQ “A blockbuster tale of adventure.” - New York Observer “Marvelous. . . . [Grann] combines a colorful narrative of Fawcett’s early life, military career, jungle treks, theories and even conversations with a biography of an extraordinary man and an overview of the last great and highly competitive age of exploration.” - Bloomberg News “A blood-stirring reading experience.” - The Denver Post “A deeply satisfying revelation. . . . What could be better-obsession, mystery, deadly insects, shrunken heads, suppurating wounds, hostile tribesmen-all for us to savor in our homes, safely before the fire.” -Erik Larson “What makes Mr. Grann’s telling of the story so captivating is that he decides not simply to go off in search of yet more relics of our absent hero-but to go off himself in search of the city that Fawcett was looking for so heroically when he suddenly went AWOL.” -Simon, "Suspenseful. . . . Rollicking. . . . Reads with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller. . . . The Lost City of Z 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." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Breathtaking. . . . Grann brings Fawcett''s remarkable story to a beautifully written, perfectly paced fruition. . . . Any writer who can breathe life into letters written by scientists in the early 1900s deserves more than a hat tip." -- The Los Angeles Times "Brilliant. . . . Impressively researched and skillfully crafted. . . . Grann makes abundantly clear in this fascinating, epic story of exploration and obsession, [that] the lethal attraction of the Amazon mystery remains strong." -- The Boston Globe "A smart biographical page-turner." -- USA Today "Grann escapes death and tracks down Z, giving the reader the kind of Indiana Jones kicks best experienced vicariously." -- Details "A riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure." --John Grisham "Thoroughly researched, vividly told. . . . Grann recounts Fawcett''s expeditions with all the pace of a white-knuckle adventure story. . . . A thrill ride from start to finish." -- The Washington Post "The story of Z goes to the heart of the central questions of our age. In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins? A fascinating and brilliant book." --Malcolm Gladwell "A spellbinding tale that produces fresh surprises around each turn. . . . An amazing story." -- Dallas Morning News "A fascinating yarn that touches on science, history, and some truly obsessive personalities." -- Entertainment Weekly "There is something about Fawcett''s spirit and self-assurance that captivates. . . . To read The Lost City of Z is to feel grateful that Grann himself bothered to set out for the Amazon in search of the bones of an explorer whose body was long ago reclaimed by the jungle." -- Christian Science Monitor "In a hyperconnected and exhaustively charted world, here is a revelation about wildness and the mad desire to plunge into it. . . . Unfathomably riveting. . . . Grann wildly delivers the goods." -- GQ "A blockbuster tale of adventure." -- New York Observer "Marvelous. . . . [Grann] combines a colorful narrative of Fawcett''s early life, military career, jungle treks, theories and even conversations with a biography of an extraordinary man and an overview of the last great and highly competitive age of exploration." -- Bloomberg News "A blood-stirring reading experience." -- The Denver Post "A deeply satisfying revelation. . . . What could be better--obsession, mystery, deadly insects, shrunken heads, suppurating wounds, hostile tribesmen--all for us to savor in our homes, safely before the fire." --Erik Larson "What makes Mr. Grann''s telling of the story so captivating is that he decides not simply to go off in search of yet more relics of our absent hero--but to go off himself in search of the city that Fawcett was looking for so heroically when he suddenly went AWOL." --Simon Winchester, The Wall Street Journal "Fast-paced adventure. . . . Grann delights us with the lure of obsession under a canopy of trees." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer "Absorbing and fair-minded. . . . In restoring a life that history has swallowed from general view, and vindicating a crackpot theory, Mr. Grann has also exposed the toll that explorers often took on those who loved or depended on them." --Richard B. Woodward, The New York Times "An engrossing book, whose protagonist could outmarch Lara Croft and out-think Indiana Jones. . . . It''s almost enough to make you reach for a backpack., "David Grann'sTheLost City of Zis a deeply satisfying revelationa look into the life and times of one of the last great territorial explorers, P. H. Fawcett, and his search for a lost city in the Amazon. I mean, what could be betterobsession, mystery, deadly insects, shrunken heads, suppurating wounds, hostile tribesmenall for us to savor in our homes, safely before the fire."Erik Larson, author ofThunderstruck,Devil in the White Cit,yandIsaac's Storm "Few things are better than experiencing a horrendous adventure from the comfort of your own armchair. Hordes of mosquitoes, poison-arrow attacks, bizarre and fatal diseases, spies in starched collars, hidden outposts of Atlantis -- what's not to like?The Lost City of Zis like a wonderful nineteenth-century tale of exotic danger -- except that David Grann's book is also a sensitively written biographical detective story, a vest-pocket history of exploration, and a guide to the new archaeological research that is exploding our preconceptions of the Amazon and its peoples." Charles Mann, author of1491 "The story ofZgoes to the heart of the central questions of our age. In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins? A fascinating and brilliant book."Malcolm Gladwell, author ofBlinkandThe Tipping Point "With this riveting work, David Grann emerges on our national landscape as a major new talent. His superb writing style, his skills as a reporter, his masterful use of historical and scientific documents, and his stunning storytelling ability are on full display here, producing an endlessly absorbing tale about a magical subject that captivates from start to finish. This is a terrific book."Doris Kearns Goodwin, author ofTeam of Rivals "What a wild and adventurous life! In the deft storytelling hands of David Grann, explorer Percy Fawcett emerges as one of the most ambitious, colorful, just plain intrepid figures ever to set foot in the New World. Part Indiana Jones, part Livingstone, and part Kit Carson, Fawcett has found his perfect biographer in Grann, who has gamely endured every conceivable Amazonian hardship to piece together the story of this British swashbuckler and his crazed search for a vanished civilization." Hampton Sides, author ofBlood and ThunderandGhost Soldiers"The Amazon has had many chroniclers but few who can match David Grann's grasp of history, science, and especially narrative. Shifting seamlessly between the past and present,The Lost City of Zis a riveting, totally absorbing real-life adventure story."Nathaniel Philbrick, author ofMayflowerandIn the Heart of the Sea"David Grann takes the reader on an extraordinary journey that snakes through expeditionary archives and ends deep in the Amazonian forest.The Lost City of Zis a gripping tale of a lost world and of the magnificent obsession of those who have sought it." Caroline Alexander, author ofThe BountyandThe Endurance"A fantastic story of courage, obsession, and mystery,The Lost City of Zis gripping from beginning to end. In the pantheon of classic exploration tales, this stands out as one of the best." Candice Millard, authorThe River of Doubt"A wonderfully researched true story about an intrepid adventurer, a colorful cast, and an obsession that grips both him and the author."Walter Isaacson, author ofEinstein, âSuspenseful. . . . Rollicking. . . . Reads with all the pace and excitement of a movie thriller. . . . The Lost City of Z 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 Fawcettâs forays into the Amazonian jungle, as well as an evocative rendering of the vanished age of exploration.â -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times âBreathtaking. . . . Grann brings Fawcettâs remarkable story to a beautifully written, perfectly paced fruition. . . . Any writer who can breathe life into letters written by scientists in the early 1900s deserves more than a hat tip.â - The Los Angeles Times âBrilliant. . . . Impressively researched and skillfully crafted. . . . Grann makes abundantly clear in this fascinating, epic story of exploration and obsession, [that] the lethal attraction of the Amazon mystery remains strong.â - The Boston Globe âA smart biographical page-turner.â - USA Today âGrann escapes death and tracks down Z, giving the reader the kind of Indiana Jones kicks best experienced vicariously.â - Details âA riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.â -John Grisham âThoroughly researched, vividly told. . . . Grann recounts Fawcettâs expeditions with all the pace of a white-knuckle adventure story. . . . A thrill ride from start to finish.â - The Washington Post âThe story of Z goes to the heart of the central questions of our age. In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins? A fascinating and brilliant book.â -Malcolm Gladwell âA spellbinding tale that produces fresh surprises around each turn. . . . An amazing story.â - Dallas Morning News âA fascinating yarn that touches on science, history, and some truly obsessive personalities.â - Entertainment Weekly âThere is something about Fawcettâs spirit and self-assurance that captivates. . . . To read The Lost City of Z is to feel grateful that Grann himself bothered to set out for the Amazon in search of the bones of an explorer whose body was long ago reclaimed by the jungle.â - Christian Science Monitor âIn a hyperconnected and exhaustively charted world, here is a revelation about wildness and the mad desire to plunge into it. . . . Unfathomably riveting. . . . Grann wildly delivers the goods.â - GQ âA blockbuster tale of adventure.â - New York Observer âMarvelous. . . . [Grann] combines a colorful narrative of Fawcettâs early life, military career, jungle treks, theories and even conversations with a biography of an extraordinary man and an overview of the last great and highly competitive age of exploration.â - Bloomberg News âA blood-stirring reading experience.â - The Denver Post âA deeply satisfying revelation. . . . What could be better-obsession, mystery, deadly insects, shrunken heads, suppurating wounds, hostile tribesmen-all for us to savor in our homes, safely before the fire.â -Erik Larson âWhat makes Mr. Grannâs telling of the story so captivating is that he decides not simply to go off in search of yet more relics of our absent hero-but to go off himself in search of the city that Fawcett was looking for so heroically when he suddenly went AWOL.â -Simon
