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On May 13, 1945, 24 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 best-selling 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.

Reviewer: LJ
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A World War II true story few have heard
Review: Unless you were alive in the 1940's to hear the headlines in the USA, you have never heard this story. And it is amazing! The author does a great job of bringing the people and scenes alive and he clearly did extensive research (all noted in the back but not cluttering the reading) talking to children of these WWII folks and reading diaries which helped him string together a really clear, clean narrative of what happened. It's FASCINATING, especially when you realize the survivors are stranded on New Guinea (now Indonesia) and run into a tribe that no one realized existed, still living in Stone Age setting but perfectly happy and thriving! Do read it. Someone should make a movie of the story.

Reviewer: Meg Brunner
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Gripping true adventure with fascinating exploration of native culture and impact of "Westernization"
Review: In May of 1945, a group of Army soldiers and WACs (Women's Army Corps members) boarded a transport plane at their base in Dutch New Guinea to go sight-seeing over the jungle region they'd nicknamed "Shangri-La." It was a beautiful area, full of incredible wildlife and stunning scenery, but the real draw for this group of curious Westerners were the dozens of villages visible through the trees, villages full of native peoples rumored to be vicious cannibals.The sight-seeing trip ended in horror, though, when the plane suddenly crashed into a mountain, killing everyone on board except for three: Margaret Hastings, burned severely; John McCollom, completely uninjured, but for the enormous hole in his heart left when he realized his twin brother had died on impact; and Kenneth Decker, suffering from a gaping head wound and possible internal injuries.The group spent several days at the crash site, dazed and scared. Rescue planes flew overhead numerous times looking for them, but McCollom, who emerged quickly as the group's leader, knew the planes would never see them unless they got out from under the jungle canopy.So, despite their brutal injuries, McCollom got Margaret and Decker up on their feet and led them on a grueling, dangerous hike to a clearing they could see in the distance. Just as they arrived, another rescue plane flew overhead, tipping its wings to let them know they'd been seen.There wasn't any time for celebration, though, as just as the plane flew off, out of the jungle came dozens of armed native men, dressed only in "penis gourds" (strange gourd contraptions they wore around their waists to cover their naughty bits) and carrying spears. Panicked, Margaret and Decker froze. But McCollom walked slowly up to the men and tried to communicate with them. After a few tense moments, the two groups relaxed, each coming to realize the others meant no harm. The rumors about the natives of Shangri-La had been grossly exaggerated -- the Dani, as they eventually learned the people were called, were actually incredibly kind and generous.Over the next several weeks, the military struggled to come up with a rescue plan to get the survivors out of the deep jungle. But nothing they had could get them there and back again safely. Helicopters couldn't fly in the thin air of the region, and there wasn't anywhere for a plane to land. So, for the time being, they did what they could, dropping cases of supplies regularly, and eventually sending two doctors, followed by about 10 soldiers, parachuting into the jungle to help care for the survivors and keep them safe.This group of Westerners eventually became close friends with many of the natives of the region, despite the fact they couldn't understand each other at all. Drawn from interviews, declassified Army documents, personal photos and mementos, a survivor's diary, a rescuer's journal, and original film footage, this riveting non-fiction book recounts the whole incredible story.Zuckoff not only extensively researched the tale through these historical sources, though -- he also returned to the region of Shangri-La, only recently starting to "Westernize." There, he miraculously found a number of Dani who had either been alive in 1945 and met the group of survivors first-hand, or who were born to some of the original natives and grew up hearing stories about the band of white spirits (as they thought they were) who appeared one day in their jungle.Lost in Shangri-La is absolutely fascinating. Not just because of the incredible story of survival and resilience, but because of Zuckoff's descriptions of the culture and religion of the Dani people -- both then and now. As if that weren't engrossing enough, though, just wait until you get to the part where the group is finally rescued. With a harrowing, unbelievable, sure-to-fail plan, the Army somehow managed to get every last one of its people back out of the jungle. And, years later, they were also able to go back in once more to retrieve the bodies of the dead.I could barely put this book down while I was reading it, and it's left me dying to read more about the native cultures of Papua and Papua New Guinea, who had some truly fascinating beliefs. It was interesting, too, to see what happened to the Dani who were exposed to the servicemen/women. This was a tribe that knew of fire, but not of the wheel, for example. They had no metal tools, and no currency, and they'd never even heard of white people, let alone seen any. After several weeks with a group of U.S. Army soldiers, though, a lot of this changed, and it changed fast. Though Zuckoff doesn't explore the impact of this very much -- probably because the impact would be pretty difficult to determine -- it was a lot of food for thought.Well-written and an absolutely incredible story, this is a book to put on your list for sure!Recommended!

Reviewer: Stephen Bridge
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great true rescue story of World War Two in the Pacific
Review: Both a great survival/rescue story and a fascinating look at Americans trying to communicate with a secluded tribe during World War II. It's hard to put down.On a Sunday afternoon near the end of World War II, a plane load of American GIs and WACs flew on a sight-seeing trip over a secluded jungle valley in the mountains of New Guinea. They were hoping to see the homes of a group of unknown tribes, a true “lost civilization.” Instead, the plane crashed into the side of a mountain, with only three survivors: an officer whose twin brother had died in the crash, a soldier with a severe head wound, and a badly burned WAC. This is the fascinating true story of their meeting with the native tribes and their amazing rescue by paratroopers and the Air Force. Told from diaries, interviews with one of the survivors, and even interviews with several of the natives who were there, which gives it a depth that might not otherwise be true. Excellent research and writing both.

Reviewer: Gridley
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Primitive Peace Within a World at War
Review: Mitchell Zuckoff has unearthed a compelling story of a lost world amid the global conflagration of WWII. Under his hand, however, the story's facts aren't given their just deserts. But here's the story, writ small:A group of American army types stationed in New Guinea as Allied forces push relentlessly toward Japan decide to take a military version of a tourist flight to see an unspoiled area of this unspoiled island. The plane crashes (due to pilot error?) and only three survive: Corporal Margaret Hastings, Tech Sergeant Kenneth Decker, and Lieutenant John McCollom. McCollom survives with minimal injuries, but Decker and Hastings are severely injured.Luckily, the USAAF is able to locate the three, send paratroopers and parachuting medics to treat their wounds and feed them until a method could be devised to rescue the three. Meanwhile, the hapless survivors - and their ad hoc rescuers - are confronted by New Guinea tribesmen, and these lost people from a lost world and American military personnel form emotional bonds of sorts. In the end, the rescue is an exotic one: a glider is guided into the area, and those on the loaded onto the glider are snared on a cable by an Air Corps plane.The story's details, as depicted by Zuckoff, were apparently all too brief to make a full length book, and it seems to this reader that, no doubt at the urging of agent or editor, the author added a lot of fluff to fill out the pub biz's book length demands. as a result, a book that could have been a suspenseful page-turner - coupled with this encounter with lost people - seems diluted with minutiae about the primary characters, their families, even that of peripheral characters.One of the skills of both fiction and non-fiction writing is parceling the story out in ways that keep the story's energy building - until its climax and denouement. I've always been one, whether reviewing a finished book or critiquing one in progress, to honor the author's strategy in orchestrating a story, in unwrapping the characters, both amid a vivid background. With Zuckoff's story, however, I'm fatally tempted to critique:He should have dropped the too-detailed background information on the army unit itself, the families, et al, and instead dwelled more on the irony of the story - the reason for the flight, who went, who survived (and didn't), and how the surviving trio, and the first tier of rescuers, managed to reach stasis in this forbidding but beautiful environment - all against the backdrop of a world at war.But stasis here wasn't a comfortable one (and this is where the confrontation of cultures comes in), as our intrepid bunch encountered and slowly became accommodated by the local tribesmen.I should quit this harangue here, hoping you get my point.I don't want to say that the author is a poor writer. To the contrary, his research was formidable and thorough. There are moments of great prose here, and moments of elation, pathos and whimsy - enough to enthrall readers, despite the roadblocks thrown in their way. Still, this is a great story, and readers will learn from it as they enjoy it.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very good read. The backstories which are provided on the characters really bring this novel to life. The fact that it is a true story makes it all the more thrilling!

Reviewer: Written Path
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Review: I could say a lot about this book - that it is well written, superbly researched and some of the heroes were still alive when the author wrote it. And every word makes you want to relive it with them all over again. Except ofcourse, the actual crash and the arduous trek through a jungle and the burns turning septic etc. You'll want to relive the good bits! Even one of the crash victims who survived long enough to talk to the media (but not this author) had said that she'll love to visit the Shangri La valley (Dutch Guinea) again, but doesn't make it. So, she doesn't have any lasting PTSD about the crash. Another fellow survivor - Ken Decker - has blocked this out of his memory and till the end of his life he doesn't remember the actual crash. And the third one always lives with survivor's guilt, that he was alive but his twin brother who was married and had just become a father, and never got to see his daughter before he died. So everyone copes in their own way. I liked how the author has followed up on where most of these people are 65 years after the crash and like Captain Earl Walter, the paratrooper who was sent to rescue them with a team of Filipino American soldiers said, "That was the highlight of my life." A really gripping momentous one. Read about it asap.

Reviewer: yofrosty
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Review: Excellent account of little known crash and rescue. I think the author over states the possibility of helicopter use, but that aside an great read.

Reviewer: Garry
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Review: I used to work in PNG in 1991.On occasion I got to know locals at remote locations - working as part of a small survey crew, sometimes alone. Their simple, independent like could sometimes be envied.It would have been nice to visit the area mentioned in this book before It was ruined by "civilization".Not a bad read.

Reviewer: Richard
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Die Geschichte ist spannend, aber leider sehr "informativ" geschrieben. Das ist enttäuschend, wenn man einen Roman erwartet... Aber da die Geschichte an sich so spannend ist, konnte ich sie dennoch kaum weglegen!