The Lost City of Z (book)
- For other uses see Lost City of Z (disambiguation)
| 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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[edit] Reception
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.
[edit] Awards and honors
- New York Times bestseller (Nonfiction, 2009)
- Samuel Johnson Prize, shortlist (2009)
- Amazon's Best Books of the Year (#58, 2009)
- Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Best Books: 2009
- Publishers Weekly's Best Books: 2009
- New York Times Notable Book of the Year (Nonfiction, 2009)
- ALA Notable Books for Adults (2010)
- Indies Choice Book Award (Adult Non-fiction, 2010)
- Globe and Mail Best Book (Travel 2009)
- The Essential Man's Library: 50 Non-Fiction Adventure Books
- Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Nonfiction, 2009)
[edit] Editions
- Grann, David (2009). The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385513531. A paperback edition was released in January 2010.
- The Lost City of Z has been translated into more than 25 languages.
[edit] Film, television and theatrical adaptations
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]
[edit] See also
- Brazilian Adventure (1933), by Peter Fleming, travel literature about a search for Fawcett
- Road to Zanzibar (1941), movie loosely based on the search for Fawcett
- Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils (1991), Indiana Jones novel with a plot to find Fawcett.
[edit] References
- ^ Lost City of Z pp. 270–72
- ^ Cohen, Rich. (February 26, 2009)."On the Road to El Dorado." The New York Times.
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko. (November 26, 2009). "Michiko Kakutani's Top 10 Books of 2009." The New York Times.
- ^ Kakutani, Michiko. (March 16, 2009). "An Explorer Drawn to, and Eventually Swallowed by, the Amazon." The New York Times.
- ^ Arana, Marie. (March 6, 2009). "Lost in the Jungle." Washington Post.
- ^ Winchester, Simon. (February 27, 2009). "The Endless Alure of El Dorado." Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Fleming, Michael (December 9, 2008). "James Gray, Brad Pitt find 'Lost City'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997141.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
[edit] External links
- "Lost City of Z", The New Yorker, September 15, 2005. Original article that led to the book.
- Lost City of Z, official book website.
- The Lost City of Z, Chapter 1, book excerpt, The Wall Street Journal
- "The search for a mythical lost city", NPR interview with David Grann
- Anonymous. Manuscript 512 (1754), about the first expedition to The Lost City (Portuguese).
- (Video) The Lost City of Z, author interview on Fora.tv
