The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston)

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Cultures/History/True Stories
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Since the days of Cortes, when conquerors came to the New World with dreams of riches and empires and first set eyes on the alien-seeming cultures of Central and South America, stories have trickled back to Western civilization about lost cities, from the well-known tale of El Dorado to the mystery of Machu Picchu. Among these were enigmatic references to a white-walled city deep in the forbidding mountains and rain forests of what is now Honduras, glimpsed now and again by the odd traveler and referred to in numerous local stories. For a long time, these were dismissed as the tall tales of travelers, or possibly wishful thinking and mistaken identity, but in every generation were adventurers and believers who risked everything in the search. In this book, writer Douglas Preston relates the history and prehistory of the American civilizations and the search for the so-called "lost city of the monkey god"... and his own involvement in the expedition that finally unearthed the possible truth behind the legend, a truth grander and more unbelievable than any tall tale.

REVIEW: Sometimes truth really does seem stranger than fiction. Here, Preston relates the story of a groundbreaking expedition deep into one of the few pristine wildernesses left in the world, in pursuit of a mystery that many experts had long dismissed as mere fancy but which turns out to have some basis in reality after all (no spoiler for saying they actually do find something - more than just one thing, actually). From the perils of snakes and ants and disease to the unfathomable difficulty of even getting around in the rain forest, plus the perils of politics in perhaps one of the most volatile regions of the Americas (and the related politics of archaeology in general), it seems utterly incredible that not only did the explorers survive, but accomplished so much. Along the way, Preston discusses the history and prehistory of the region and the search, the allure and romance of "lost cities" in the Western world (and how the notions are inextricably tied with colonialism and a sense of cultural superiority, the "right" to claim and plunder whatever one sets one's eyes upon regardless of whose property, or story, it truly is), even how expeditions like the one he becomes involved with play into national and international politics. The people involved sometimes seem larger than life, and the search takes twists and turns aplenty as it wends through history and various obstacles and setbacks, not to mention the fallout of success. Along the way, the grandeur and dangerous beauty of the remote Honduras wilderness comes to life, as well as the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the city's builders and the incalculable tragedy of their collapse. The chapters on the unimaginably devastating effects of European diseases on the Americas and the risks of disease today (as the author and other expedition members discover the hard way) take on new significance after the height of the recent pandemic that shows how vulnerable even our "superior" global civilization is to illness, and how (to be blunt) screwed we're going to be if we don't take the lessons of the past - distant and recent - seriously as the changing climate allows "exotic" tropical illnesses and parasites to spread to new populations. Once in a while the names can run together a bit, but overall this is an interesting account of an incredible find and its impact on the explorers involved, expanding our understanding of a fascinating region and period of history.

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