Leo T. reviewed on 8/10/2020 + 1775 more book reviews

I obtained this through the kindness of Ms. Bidwell (Whitney, Texas) for the shelf at the old soldiers' home. It is written by an experienced journalist (Pulitzer Prize winner) who started with careful research in libraries and archives before spending considerable time on the ground. So, while it is a well worn story of the disappearance of Fawcett while on an expedition in Brazil, Mr. Grann shares details about what the Mato Grosso is like at the start of the 21st C. "'Only the Indians respect the forest,' Paulo said. 'The white people cut it all down.' Mato Grosso, he went on, was being transformed into domesticated farmland, mcuh of it dedicated to soybeans. In Brazil alone, the Amazon has, over the last four decades, lost some two hundred and seventy thousand square miles of it original forest cover--an area bigger than France."
Col. Fawcett long was interested in treasure troves. He hired workers to dig for the jewels of the Kandyan kings. "Fawcett, despite his failure, relished his flight from everything he.n knew. 'Ceylon is a very old country, and ancient peoples has more wisom than we of today know,' Das told Facett. That spring, after reluctantly returning to Fort Frederick, Fawcett learned that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a nephew of the Austro-Hungarian emperor, was planning to visit Ceylon. A gala party was announced in Ferdinand's honor, and many of the rulline elite, including Facett, turned out."
My copy is the 14th printing of the paperback edition, so this book sold very well.
Illustrations, maps, bibliography, endnotes, and index.

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