Percy Fawcett

En 1925, tras años de aventuras en Asia y Latinoamérica, el explorador inglés Percy Harrison Fawcett desapareció en las selvas del norte de Brasil en pos de un sueño: encontrar una civilización perdida, heredera de la Atlántida, a la que llamaba 'Z'. A raíz de su desaparición, se organizaron numerosas expediciones en su búsqueda, pero ninguna tuvo éxito. Fawcett se convirtió en una de las mayores leyendas del siglo XX.Sus viajes y su personalidad inspiraron obras como El mundo perdido, de Conan Doyle, o Las minas del rey Salomón, de H. Rider Haggard. Steven Spielberg se basó en él para crear Indiana Jones. El libro reproduce sus propios manuscritos y cartas, recopilados y editados por su hijo.… (meer)

An astonishing read, much seeming if not first hand experience, making this a great first hand source and account. Because of this the telling is linear - no bouncing back and forth in time and place. The story begins with his first assignment as a cartographer to help determine a boundary in South America, and then goes to other assignments doing same for others. A very good way into the book there start to be ethnographic and geo political, the in even smaller scale nuances that seem to provoke the author that there is 'something there' that academics of his time had not imagined. Some astute observations of the vile corruption of the times and inhumanity to man, with the native peoples always losing, struck me many times how unfunny (and how that still happens) because of resources and greed. So it is far more than a put this foot in front of the other Indiana Jones fiction - this person has a conscience and compassion, no two dimensional character here, and in many places almost advocates for intoxicating and .enlightening aspects of native tribes and peoples. So be prepared to learn a little if not a lot very unpleasant history regarding the rubber trade and colonial slavery.

Any way, the Lost City of Z doesn't come into the book until about the final quarter. No mention at all until then. Keep in mind that historically what was happening in the archeological world with the Maya, Egypt, Babylon, Minoan Crete, the crazes, the times... who knows what? maybe a lost world?

I found the book a compelling account of his thoughts, his times, his travels, interests, personality. It functions as an anthropological work while retaining honest there at the times adventure. The historical character and understanding you can gain into a small part of the South American 'games of money and thrones' and it's impact on today should not be minimized.

Well worth taking the time to read on many levels.… (meer)