Lost in Shangri-La

In May 1945, a group consisting of American airmen and members of the Women’s Army Corps who were stationed in Dutch New Guinea took a sightseeing trip. They were looking for a valley that was not marked on maps, but had been spotted by pilots. However, their day out turned into a nightmare when the plane crashed into that valley, leaving only three survivors: two Army officers and one WAC.

Lost in Shangri-La is the amazing story of the three Americans and their battle to survive in unknown and seemingly inescapable terrain. Mitchell Zuckoff brings to life the hair-raising adventures faced by the crash survivors, including a local tribe that could not decide whether to kill or help them, and the extremely dangerous plan that was their only hope for rescue. Gripping and unforgettable, Lost in Shangri-La also explores the world of the indigenous people who were so suddenly visited by the 20th century on that Sunday afternoon in 1945.

Mitchell Zuckoff is a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is the author of Robert Altman: The Oral Biography; Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend; and Choosing Naia: A Family’s Journey, and is co-author of Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders. Zuckoff is a former special projects reporter for the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting. He lives outside Boston with his wife, Boston Globe photographer Suzanne Kreiter, and their two daughters.

“Whew — what an utterly compelling and deeply satisfying read!” — Simon Winchester