What is the author's tone in the nonfiction book, The Lost City of Z?

The tone of the work is journalistic and academic, while also reading somewhat like a novel. The author uses a novel-like tone during Fawcett's chapter with a past tense and third person. It creates the effect of reading a suspense story, as if Fawcett and his explorers were fictional characters and not real life figures. The author breaks this tone when necessary, interjecting with the first person and interesting facts that add richness and meaning to the events described. Rather than being dryly academic, many chapters end on cliff-hangers. The author is telling a story as much as he is presenting the facts of a man's life. It is a testament to his strong storytelling abilities-- primarily the use of tone-- that the book has garnished such praise.