JANUARY 29, 2009

Lost and found

NONFICTION The Lost City of Z

Percy Fawcett spent almost 20 years mapping out the Amazon. In time, he convinced himself that the rain forest contained the ruins of a vast civilization, and in 1925, he disappeared in search of it. In the years to come, hundreds of adventurers would set out to find Fawcett — only to add their own names to the list of the missing.

In his first book, The Lost City of Z, the excellent New Yorker writer David Grann does more than follow in their footsteps: He also solves the mystery that kept Fawcett up at night. It’s a thrilling story, and Grann — who received the close cooperation of Fawcett’s relatives and had unprecedented access to the explorer’s maps and journals — tells it beautifully. Brad Pitt’s already snapped up the film rights.

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The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (Doubleday; hardcover; 352 pages)