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

I read a lot. In fact I usually am in the middle of multiple books. I have one for the bathroom (toilet and tub reading), one for the bed-side, one for my purse, one for my van, you get the picture. It's been awhile since I have written a review on a book that I've read. In fact, I think my first post on this blog was a book review. Well, I am going to start doing some more because I love finding reviews on books and finding new material to read.

Well, I saw The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann at a Borders back in February and after reading the back cover I was interested. So when I got home I searched for it on our local library's online book catalogue. I found it and so the next day I went and had it held for me because it was already checked out. Anyway, I finally received it and finished it within the 3 weeks I had it checked out for. It kept me intrigued the whole way through.

The author, David Grann, has done his research and tells a story of not only a explorer and his passion but also of the people surrounding the explorer and the rain forest and it's inhabitants. The story is true and so that makes it all the more interesting, to me. I love a good action and adventure story and I love history. This book has all those things and more.
The main character (for lack of a better identifier) is an explorer named Sir Percy Fawcett who was a British archaeologist and explorer in the late 1800's through early 1900's. Mr. Grann tells the story of Percy through the words of Percy himself by using his journals, letters and newspaper articles. Mr. Grann tells of Percy's belief of an ancient lost city which he calls "Z" and his expeditions into the Amazon in search of this city. Percy never returned from his last expedition. Grann details searches into the Amazon for Percy much later into the 1900's and even as early as 2005 when Grann goes into the Amazon himself to look for clues as to what might have happened to Percy.

It's a very interesting story and is one of those that will leave you with a renewed respect for our ancestors who paved a way for civilization but also with some horror at the acts of those who sought to oppress the tribes of Indians who lived (and some still live) in the Amazon. I learned quite a bit about the Amazon and really enjoyed the story of Sir Percy Fawcett's life.