The Lost City of Z

revolutionize exploration: the airplane. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society ***

(Above) Fawcett’s younger son, Brian, pored over his father’s diaries and drew illustrations depicting his adventures. The drawings, like this one, were published in Exploration Fawcett in 1953 and further fueled Percy Fawcett’s legend. Copyright © R. de Montet- Guerin

Fawcett’s longtime assistant Henry Costin posing, in 1914, with an Amazonian tribe that had never before seen a white man. Courtesy of Michael Costin

Acclaimed biologist James Murray was a member of Shackleton’s British Antarctic Expedition and later joined Fawcett on a horrific journey in the Amazon. Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

An Indian in the Xingu fishes with bow and arrow in 1937. Many scientists believed the Amazon could not provide sufficient food to sustain a large, complex civilization. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

*** Fawcett’s older son, Jack, who dreamed of being a movie star, accompanied his father on his deadly quest for Z. Copyright © R. de Montet-Guerin

“Strong as horses and keen as mustard”: Jack Fawcett and his best friend, Raleigh Rimell, on the 1925 expedition. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

Percy Fawcett with Raleigh Rimell and one of their guides shortly before the expedition vanished. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

*** “I have never felt so well,” Jack Fawcett wrote his mother during the fateful expedition. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

In 1928 Commander George M. Dyott launched the first major mission to rescue Fawcett. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society

A news story about Albert de Winton, the Hollywood actor who, in 1933, had vowed to find Fawcett dead or alive. From “Deep in the Fearful Amazon Jungle, Savages Seize Movie Actor Seeking to Rescue Fawcett,” Washington Post, September 30, 1934

(Below) Brian Fawcett, who had been left behind on the 1925 expedition, was eventually drawn into the jungle himself. Bettmann/Corbis

(Above) The Brazilian journalist Edmar Morel with Dulipe-the “White God of the Xingu”-who, in the 1940s, became a central figure in the Fawcett mystery. From “The Strange Case of Colonel Fawcett,” Life, April 30, 1951

In 1951 Orlando Villas Boas, the revered Brazilian pioneer, thought that he had found proof of Fawcett’s fate. Photo by Edward A. Gourley, reproduced with permission from Douglas A. Gourley

The Kalapalo Indians—including these, photographed by a missionary in 1937—were believed to know what really happened to Fawcett and his party. Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society (Below) James Lynch and his sixteen-year-old son, James, Jr., set out into the jungle in 1996, in the hopes of finally solving the Fawcett mystery. Courtesy of James Lynch

(Below) James Lynch and his sixteen-year-old son, James, Jr., set out into the jungle in 1996, in the hopes of finally solving the Fawcett mystery. Courtesy of James Lynch

Paolo Pinage (left), who guided the author into the Amazon, rests in the house of a Bakairi Indian during our trip. Courtesy of Paolo Pinage

The author (front) treks with Bakairi Indians through the jungle along the same route that Fawcett followed eighty years earlier. Courtesy of Paolo Pinage

Two Kuikuro Indians dance in celebration of the “whirlwind” spirit. Courtesy of Michael Heckenberger

Kuikuro Indians participate in one of their most sacred rituals, the Kuarup, which honors the dead. Courtesy of Michael Heckenberger

The archaeologist Michael Heckenberger chats with Afukaka, the chief of the Kuikuro Indians. Courtesy of Michael Heckenberger

An aerial shot of the Kuikuro settlement with its circular plaza and domed houses along the perimeter. Courtesy of Michael Heckenberger

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David Grann