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The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon Chapter 6 Summary

How It All Goes Down

The Disciple

  • We're back in 1900, where men wear blazers and wax their moustaches. Wait, have we gone back in time or not?
  • Fawcett meets Edward Ayearst Reeves, who takes Fawcett to a surveying course at the Society.
  • Reeves believes Fawcett and his peers could become "the next generation" of great explorers (6.8).
  • Fawcett is a fast learner, making him the Data of the group.
  • Fawcett quickly learns how to use a variety of tools no explorer leaves home without: theodolites, aneroids, sextants, the Pokédex.
  • Fawcett is also taught how to measure people.
  • The explorers are anthropologists, too, taught to observe "savages, barbarians, [and] the lower civilized nations. […] It is established that some races are inferior to others in volume and complexity of brain" (6.11).
  • Fawcett studies hard and passes his explorer's exam with flying colors.
  • Now he just needs a mission.