Lost in Shangri-La

Lost in Shangri-La (2011) by Mitchell Zuckoff. This book starts off slowly, but then it really builds momentum. The story is a true story about a group of American servicemen and -women in the waning days of World War II, who get lost in the remote regions of the island of New Guinea and come upon an isolated tribe which has never been exposed to modern man. The way they get lost is in a plane crash. Out of a crew of 24, there are only three survivors. They crash because they are sightseeing over a high plateau in rocky mountains, and one of the pilots fails his responsibility. The tribe (or rather, tribes) of people they find living on the plateau have a distinct culture and mythology which has been handed down through millennia of living without contact with the outside world. Learning about the people of "Shangri-La" is the most fascinating thing about this book; but it's not the only fascinating thing. It's a great book and I recommend it highly. Grade: A-