• Lost in Shangri-La

  • A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
  • By: Mitchell Zuckoff
  • Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff
  • Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (2,592 ratings)

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Lost in Shangri-La  By  cover art

Lost in Shangri-La

By: Mitchell Zuckoff
Narrated by: Mitchell Zuckoff
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Editorial reviews

Lost In Shangri- La by Mitchell Zuckoff is a blockbuster tale Hollywood couldn’t better. An American military plane crashes in an uncharted and barely accessible part of New Guinea leaving only three survivors, one of them a brave and fetching blonde member of the Women’s Army Corps. The survivors and natives share a fascinating rapprochement, despite the tribe’s propensity to war.

Zuckoff tells the tale with an unusual focus on the personalities randomly thrust together and the collision of stunningly different worlds. His writing and delivery let the drama speak for itself: his mellow voice and almost conversational style avoids histrionics at the climactic moments, yet still conveys the characters’ emotional journeys.

Events take off, literally in 1945 in Dutch New Guinea, where Americans still at war with the Japanese were stationed. Twenty-four soldiers and members of the Women’s Army Corps are treated by their boss to a recreational flight over “Shangri-La”, a storied part of the island recently discovered.

Flying over a narrow valley on the mountainous island (which had already foundered 600 planes during the war), treacherous terrain and human error result in the crash, killing all but three on board: Corporal Margaret Hastings, a 30-year-old WAC enlistee from upstate New York, who sustained leg burns; Sergeant Kenneth Decker, whose stoicism wasn’t fully realized until the severity of his wounds were discovered days later, and, finally, Lieutenant John McCollom who, while physically the heartiest, was arguably the most wounded, having left the remains of his twin brother in the wreckage.

Zuckoff sensitively narrates the travails of the immediate aftermath when the trio, living on scant water and hard candies, drag themselves through the jungle to a clearing where they will be more visible to search planes.

But they are first spotted by natives, fierce-looking and, for all the survivors know, cannibals. Drawing heavily on Margaret’s diary, Zuckoff seems to share the sense of wonder, as well as the initial condescension, curiosity, and fear shared by the survivors. And, through his research with the tribesmen and their progeny about the long-ago event, he helps us grasp the culture and reactions of the tribe, who believed the survivors to be gods or spirits of death to be honored. The tribe’s almost religious commitment to making war makes the relationships that grew between the two groups that much more remarkable. Margaret and a regal, gracious tribeswoman find a deep bond, with nary a comprehensible word between them.

After five weeks together, the rescue operation is ready. Zuckoff sets it up with all the challenges of logistics and aeronautic risks, telling a heart-stopping narrative from the arrival of paratroopers through the seemingly doomed attempts to “snatch” the survivors to safety.

For all the swashbuckling, exotic appeal of this historic episode, the most moving sections were the intimacies Zuckoff sought out from the survivors and shares here like secret, treasured knowledge the snippets of letters sent home; details of families’ idiosyncrasies, and especially, the fascinatingly ordinary lives the survivors lived out, after the event Zuckoff reveals in all its extraordinariness. Elly Schull Meeks

Publisher's summary

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.

©2011 Mitchell Zuckoff (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Lost in Shangri-La

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not as interesting as I thought

What did you like best about Lost in Shangri-La? What did you like least?

As a big history person I was interested in this story, and it was good but it just turned into a chore for me to listen to. I just wasn't as exited about it as I finished. Make sure its something you'll want to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A sleeper hit!

I put off listening to this book due to a couple reviews that gave mediocre ratings. What a mistake! Lost in Shangri-La is a wonderfully researched and beautifully written about one of the more interesting "silent missions" at the end of the Second World War. Zuckoff makes an engaging narrator to his novel, neither becoming monotone or annoying during the read. With a true newspaperman's approach to the endeavor, Zuckoff delves into the history and development of his characters aboard the ill-fated C-47, the Gremlin Special, their hardships and a survival story worthy of a movie. The meeting of cultures of the natives of a remote Dutch New Guinea valley and the 20th Century warriors who stumble into their midst is just a flat out four-star recipe for an interesting tale. Enjoyable especially to anyone with an interest of the Second World War in the Pacific, this is a fine use of a credit.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Yawn! Maybe if the Author was not the narrator...

Would you try another book from Mitchell Zuckoff and/or Mitchell Zuckoff?

Doubtful

Has Lost in Shangri-La turned you off from other books in this genre?

The genre is good, but not the book

Would you listen to another book narrated by Mitchell Zuckoff?

Never

Do you think Lost in Shangri-La needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Oh, I hope not!

Any additional comments?

Always pay a professional to narrate your work. It's like Doctor operating on themselve. I hate say I quit this book at 3/4 through....it just was too much fluff and not enough story. This story was not lost, just not interesting.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Can I give this 3 1/2 stars? Good...not great.

The thing that fascinates me most about history is that it contains so much....history. There are nooks and crannies in the world that contain the most fascinating stories, and I have to imagine that most of the best ones will go undiscovered for eternity. In their place, we still have a treasure trove of the most harrowing, enlightening, exciting, and sad stories that we could ever dream up. World War 2 seems to be a breeding ground for these stories, and Lost in Shangri-La reveals another tiny corner of these nooks and crannies.

Mitchell Zuckoff writes a good story about an interesting event. The survival, heroism, and bravery on display here are unquestionable. That a rescue mission was carried out in this extremely remote and dangerous place is a testament to the honor of our soldiers in WW2. Unfortunately, I couldn't shake the feeling that this really was a story about some people on a joy ride who made a mistake. Because of that mistake, many people died, and many others were put into harms way. It is a story worth telling not because of the bravery of those who avoided death in the initial crash, but rather because of those who cleaned up the mess afterwards.

And I know that sounds awfully harsh. Mitchell Zuckoff does a great job of extracting every detail out of the event and relaying those details to us in a fine manner. I have no particular quibbles with the way that this was done, other than those mentioned earlier. I think his narration is fine, and the story he tells feels complete -- it feels like we understand the backstory well, the events that occurred, and how it impacted both the valley, its native inhabitants, and those that got out alive. In the end, though, I can't shake this feeling that it isn't quite enough to convince me that I should evangelize this story and book to others.

Instead, I'll say that it is better than average, probably almost very good, but nothing more than that.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Starts off strong, loses some steam in 2nd half

Overall the tale grabbed my attention from the beginning, and it gave me that unique pleasure of an audio book in that it made me happy to wake up on a Monday morning and realize that I was going to get to immerse myself in the story again as I commuted to work. But as the story progressed it just seemed to lose a little steam. In all, it felt like a really good article from a magazine like Smithsonian that had been padded out into a book.

Part of this is not really the author's fault but rather the result of history. In particular I mean how the survivors, temporarily stranded among the native inhabitants of "Shangri-La," were in periodic contact with the outside world including journalists who were intent on keeping a great human interest story alive and selling papers. This whole P.T. Barnum aspect of the story was somewhat depressing, but of course it really happened and was a valid part of the story.

The key point of interest in this tale is the valley dubbed Shangri-La where an isolated group of aboriginals lived. The rescue mission itself, when it finally is carried out, honestly isn't all *that* interesting. I don't think it lived up to the title's claim that this one was "the most incredible rescue mission of World War II."

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellant true life story.

Would you listen to Lost in Shangri-La again? Why?

This was a great story and well told. I also liked all of the background on the people who were involved in the event that happened just before the end of WWII. I will admit that it was especially interesting to me because I am a pilot and because I spent a little time in that part of what was Dutch New Guinea, in the mid 90's. I love books like this one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Must Listen!

What did you love best about Lost in Shangri-La?

It's the story of good men and women locked in a desperate struggle far away from their homes.

What did you like best about this story?

These are some of the real people of our greatest generation.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. It was impossible to turn off!

Any additional comments?

This is a fantastic true story that will leave the listener wanting the story to go on and on. You will find yourself intertwined in the lives of these brave men and women and if you are American you will be proud to be so even more after this book! Well done!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great re-cap and story

What did you love best about Lost in Shangri-La?

The factual representation and the weaving in of a storyteller's point of view

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lt. McCollom - Pretty typical of the WW II military... He was there (in the military) because he wanted to be, was scared, and was strong.

Have you listened to any of Mitchell Zuckoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

NO

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Exactly the same as the book's Lost in Shangri-La

Any additional comments?

My father was in WW II and in New Guinea. This story resembles his experiences.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really good listen

What did you love best about Lost in Shangri-La?

The story is compelling and interesting. One you do not want to turn off.

What other book might you compare Lost in Shangri-La to and why?

Unbroken, both stories of courage and strong attitudes and wills. Very inspiring.

Have you listened to any of Mitchell Zuckoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

True Survival

Amazing to hear that in the 1940's there were parts of the world that were never discovered by modern day travelers. Enjoyed the internet links to maps and original video footage. It's a great listen!

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