Includes bibliographical references.

We shall return -- The vanishing -- The search begins -- Buried treasure -- Blank spots on the map -- The disciple -- Freeze-dried icecream and adrenaline socks -- Into the Amazon -- The secret papers -- The green hell -- Dead Horse Camp -- In the hands of the gods -- Ransom -- The case for Z -- El Dorado -- The locked box -- The whole world is mad -- A scientific obsession -- An unexpected clue -- Have no fear -- The last eyewitness -- Dead or alive -- The colonel's bones -- The other world -- Z.

Starred Review. In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.