The Fairfax Library Book
Discussion Group will meet, Thursday, August 9th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room
of the Fairfax Library to discuss our August book, The Lost City of the
Monkey God by Douglas Preston
Discussion questions are below.
Here are some links for
additional background and information:
Coming up, we have the
following book to look forward to reading:
Thurs. Sept.
13th Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Thanks for reading with
us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.
Beth
Bailey-Gates
Friends of the Fairfax
Library
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Lost
City of the Monkey God by Douglas
Preston
1. The legend of the Cuidad Blanca has
been around for more than five centuries, and in that time, generations of
adventurers have risked their lives in search of it. What do you think the
appeal is of this kind of quest? What is it about the idea of discovering a
lost city that maintains such a perennial grip on the human imagination?
2. Preston offers a colorful history of
the men who had tried to find the Cuidad Blanca over the centuries—many of whom
came back with vivid accounts of their discoveries. Do you believe that any of
them came across the same city that Preston and Elkins and the expedition found
in T1? Why or why not?
3. In 1940, the New York Times ran a
front-page article announcing, “City of Monkey God Believed Located” by
swashbuckling explorer Theodore Morde. However, Preston’s research reveals a
shocking new twist to this seventyfive-year-old story. How does this new
information change our understanding of the history of the legend of the lost
city?
4. Why do you think Morde’s original
account remained unchallenged so long?
5. Preston opens his account of the
adventure in Honduras with a scene in which he and his fellow explorers are
given a dramatic briefing about the dangers of the rainforest—pit vipers,
scorpions, bullet ants, and diseasebearing sandflies. Yet when they first
arrive in the jungle, it all seems so benign and Edenic that Preston assumes
the leaders were simply being overcautious—until he encounters his first viper.
Do you think the team underestimated the challenges that they would face, alone
in the jungle? What do you feel the biggest challenges were, and how might the
team have prepared for them differently?
6. If offered the opportunity to go on a
similar adventure, would you want go yourself? Why or why not?
7. After Elkins, Preston, and the team
emerge from the jungle and announce their findings, a conflict breaks out in
the archeological community. Why do you think this is such a sensitive topic?
Do you believe either side is correct? Why or why not?
8. What do you think modern Latin
America would look like if the arrival of the conquistadors hadn’t introduced
what Preston terms “Old World” diseases to the indigenous populations?
9. What can the discovery of the city at
T1 teach modern-day archeologists about the past? What are the biggest
surprises that surround this discovery? Does it change the way we understand
any of the history of the New World?
