How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Yet each expedition that had tried to find El Dorado ended in disaster. […] Some four thousand men died during that expedition alone, of starvation and disease and at the hands of Indians defending their territory with arrows dipped in poison. Other El Dorado parties resorted to cannibalism. Many explorers went mad. (1.9)
Welcome to the Amazon, population: falling.
Quote #2
Fawcett had determined that an ancient, highly cultured people still existed in the Brazilian Amazon and that their civilization was so old and sophisticated that it would forever alter the Western view of the Americas. (1.11)
This is Grann basically telling us what his whole book is about, but he also shows us how ahead of his time Fawcett was. Fawcett is one of the only people at the time who had this particular vision of the Amazon. Other scientists and explorers thought it was a backwards wilderness.
Quote #3
How easily the Amazon can deceive. (2.1)
Grann is describing the Amazon River here, but this line can double as a line describing the jungle. The Amazon is deceptive in that it's a jungle, but there doesn't seem to be anything to eat in this jungle. And it's deceptive in that it seems to be full of nomadic tribes, but it was also once home to great civilizations. Maybe. Or maybe we need to change our definition of civilization.