In the first half of the book, Preston builds up the mystery, intrigue, and suspense of the Lost City legend. He does so by recounting different versions of the legend with emotionally evocative language, describing a lost city cursed by the gods, one strangers are forbidden to enter on supernatural punishment of death. Through historical investigation and the recounting of various spurious accounts of the Lost City, Preston constructs the legendary city as a potential reality backed by evidence. As the narrative continues with the 2012 lidar survey, Preston begins dismantling this misleading legend, replacing it with the reality uncovered through hard-earned archaeological evidence and interpretations. First, two ancient cities are found rather than one, and they resemble archaeological sites that are already known. Accounts of an ancient civilization, then, coalesced into a legend of a single city. Second, historical and archaeological evidence suggest that the city was wiped out by European-introduced diseases. Such a real-world catastrophe, then, was gradually reinterpreted as divine punishment in the legend.

Preston also uses historical accounts, both real and false, of a great city constructed of white limestone, to build anticipation of a pristine, towering white city wrought from stone. When the T1 site is found, it is in fact primarily earthen in construction, and it is so deeply covered and camouflaged by earth and vegetation that Preston “would never have recognized it” (143).