First published 2017
Douglas Preston chronicles his participation in a scientific expedition that used advanced lidar technology to locate a fabled Honduran metropolis known as the White City or Lost City of the Monkey God. For five centuries, this settlement remained hidden in dense rainforest, protected by legends of curses and death. In 1940, journalist Theodore Morde claimed to have found it but took its location to his grave. Preston describes how in 2012, a team deployed classified mapping technology from aircraft to penetrate the jungle canopy. The scans revealed ruins of an entire civilization in an unexplored valley. The ground expedition that followed faced jaguars, venomous snakes, torrential weather, and treacherous terrain. After confirming their discovery of extensive archaeological remains, team members learned they had contracted a flesh-eating tropical disease with no cure. Preston weaves together the historical quest for this lost civilization with the modern scientific methods that finally revealed its location, while documenting the very real dangers that claimed some explorers and sickened others.
Genres: history, adventure, archaeology, non-fiction
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, quest
Setting: Honduras, White City, Lost City of the Monkey God
Period: 1940, 2012
328 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: violence