Conquest of the Useless

About the book

A fever-dream journal documenting the making of cinema's most infamous production, from the world's most infamously visionary director: Werner Herzog.

In 1982, the visionary film director, Werner Herzog, released Fitzcarraldo, a lavish film about a would-be rubber baron who pulls a 320-ton steamship over a mountain. Hailed instantly by critics around the globe as a masterpiece, Fitzcarraldo won Herzog the 1982 Outstanding Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, affirming Herzog's reputation as one of the most revered and enigmatic filmmakers of his time.

Conquest of the Useless is the diary Herzog kept during the making of Fitzcarraldo, compiled from June 1979 to November 1981. Emerging as if out of an Amazonian fever dream during filming, Herzog's writings are an extraordinary documentary unto themselves, providing a glimpse into the mind of a genius during the making of one of his greatest achievements.

'Hypnotic... It is ever tempting to try to fathom [Herzog's] restless spirit and his determination to challenge fate' New York Times