Lost in Shangri-La - Mitchell Zuckoff

Lost in Shangri-La

By Mitchell Zuckoff

  • Release Date: 2011-04-26
  • Genre: Military History
Score: 4
4
From 3,242 Ratings

Description

A New York Times bestseller and the winner of the Winship/PEN New England Award, Lost in Shangri-La is “a truly incredible adventure” (New York Times Book Review) about three brave survivors of a WWII plane crash in the jungle.
 
On May 13, 1945, twenty-four American servicemen and WACs boarded a transport plane for a sightseeing trip over “Shangri-La,” a beautiful and mysterious valley deep within the jungle-covered mountains of Dutch New Guinea. Unlike the peaceful Tibetan monks of James Hilton’s bestselling novel Lost Horizon, this Shangri-La was home to spear-carrying tribesmen, warriors rumored to be cannibals.
 
But the pleasure tour became an unforgettable battle for survival when the plane crashed. Miraculously, three passengers pulled through. Margaret Hastings, barefoot and burned, had no choice but to wear her dead best friend’s shoes. John McCollom, grieving the death of his twin brother also aboard the plane, masked his grief with stoicism. Kenneth Decker, too, was severely burned and suffered a gaping head wound.
 
Emotionally devastated, badly injured, and vulnerable to the hidden dangers of the jungle, the trio faced certain death unless they left the crash site. Caught between man-eating headhunters and enemy Japanese, the wounded passengers endured a harrowing hike down the mountainside—a journey into the unknown that would lead them straight into a primitive tribe of superstitious natives who had never before seen a white man—or woman.
 
Drawn from interviews, declassified U.S. Army documents, personal photos and mementos, a survivor’s diary, a rescuer’s journal, and original film footage, Lost in Shangri-La recounts this incredible true-life adventure for the first time. Mitchell Zuckoff reveals how the determined trio—dehydrated, sick, and in pain—traversed the dense jungle to find help; how a brave band of paratroopers risked their own lives to save the survivors; and how a cowboy colonel attempted a previously untested rescue mission to get them out.

By trekking into the New Guinea jungle, visiting remote villages, and rediscovering the crash site, Zuckoff also captures the contemporary natives’ remembrances of the long-ago day when strange creatures fell from the sky. A riveting work of narrative nonfiction that vividly brings to life an odyssey at times terrifying, enlightening, and comic, Lost in Shangri-La is a thrill ride from beginning to end.
 
This ebook also includes an excerpt from Mitchell Zuckoff’s New York Times bestseller Frozen in Time.
 
About the Author:

Mitchell Zuckoff is a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is the author of Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II, Robert Altman: An Oral Biography, Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend, Judgment Ridge: The True Story of the Dartmouth Murders, with Dick Lehr, Choosing Naia: A Family's Journey, and 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting, and the winner of numerous national awards as a reporter for The Boston Globe. He lives outside Boston.

Reviews

  • Lost In Shanghai-La

    5
    By Apple Pie Ridge
    Excellent story - and yet a true one at that! Great historical read from a WWII event.
  • Riveting

    5
    By Kurt4cat
    Another great true story that rivals any fiction written.
  • Lost in Shangra-La

    4
    By mo Joe JoJo
    terrific book. and quite amazing that it never made to the silver screen--either shortly after the three survivors made it back to safety near the end of WW II--or now when, despite it being front page news back in 1945, is a forgotten tale of human survival and heroism...
  • Didn’t download

    1
    By FrstrdReader
    Not sure what happened? May possibly be a good book but it will not download.
  • Inspiring & Well-written

    5
    By JuJeWaAg
    The first page hooked me because I have an older stepbrother who lives near Owego. I sent him a screen shot of the first page of the book. He did some research online & on foot - a good connection for us both. By then I was inspired by Margaret’s story and read every word. The photos also added to it. I had tears as I read what happened to the main chat waters in the years after the crash and rescue. There used to be a race track called Shangra-la”. It had to be inspired by this story!
  • Lots of extra information

    4
    By pinqkat
    Worth reading
  • Great Read!

    5
    By RickyCT
    One of those historical leaning novels that keep you reading chapter after chapter. I can only imagine what Margaret was like and having spent some time in Owego and nearby Newark Valley I can picture the life she led before the war. I highly recommend this book! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
  • Page turner

    5
    By Val Sal
    This book was so well-written and it was simply enthralling.
  • Lost in Shangri-la

    5
    By Sure 'nuf
    Amazing story of courage, persistence and success. Well written.
  • Love it so far!

    5
    By nvmreviews
    It has great detail and the amount of heartbreaking facts in in it about WW2 makes you feel like your in the story yourself!

Comments