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

Good story well told. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch! (No, really).

An interesting combination of the history of 1900s era exploration of the Amazon and the author's modern story of retracing their footsteps. A bit too much of the author's own experience but the payoff about modern archaeology is worth it. (Sadly there's very little on the modern work; see 1491 for a better treatment of current thinking on New World anthropology). This book is a slightly expanded form of the New Yorker article. There's a few more stories in the book version, but the article is honestly enough.