Mitchell Zuckoff is an award-winning writer and professor of journalism at Boston University. He is the author of Lost in Shangri-la: The True Story of a Plane Crash into a Hidden World (HarperCollins). His previous books are: Robert Altman: The Oral Biography, one of Amazon.com's "Best Books of 2009"; Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend, a New York Times Editors' Choice book; and Choosing Naia: A Family's Journey, which received the Christopher Award and was named a Massachusetts Honor Book. Zuckoff is co-author of Judgment Ridge: The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders, which was a finalist for the Edgar Award. A sought after keynote speaker, he has spoken at more than two dozen universities during the past decade, at historical and business groups, and at veterans' organizations.
Zuckoff's magazine work has appeared in The New Yorker, Fortune, and other national and regional publications. He is a former special projects reporter for The Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting. He received the Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Livingston Award for International Reporting, the Heywood Broun Award, and the Associated Press Managing Editors' Public Service Award, among other national honors.
In his riveting Lost in Shangri-la talks, Zuckoff reveals one of the last untold stories of World War II, the extraordinary mission to rescue male and female survivors of a U.S. military plane crash in an isolated corner of the South Pacific, and the ancient indigenous tribe members who aided those stranded on the ground in this "Shangri-la." He illustrates his talks with an incredible short film shot during the episode (and showing the dramatic rescue) by Alexander Cann, a cameraman from the Netherlands Information Service who parachuted into the valley.
Near the end of World War II, American airmen stationed in the South Pacific found a secluded tropical valley in Dutch New Guinea where Army maps showed only mountains. On a Sunday afternoon in May 1945, a sightseeing trip over the valley carried 15 Army officers and enlisted men and nine members of the Women's Army Corps. When the plane crashed into a jungle-covered mountain, 19 passengers were killed and two mortally wounded. But somehow three survived: John McCollom, a lieutenant whose twin brother died in the crash, Ken Decker, a sergeant who suffered terrible head wounds, and Margaret Hastings, a beautiful member of the WACs, whose shoes were burnt off in the fiery explosion, forcing her to use those of her dead best friend.
Hurt, unarmed, and afraid, they prayed for deliverance - from their wounds, from the elements, and from the spear-carrying Dani tribesmen. John, Ken, and Margaret hiked through the jungle for three days before they were spotted by search planes. The Army, however, had no idea how to rescue them. Until a plan took shape, a cowboy colonel ordered a crack unit of paratroopers and medics to parachute into the valley to protect them.
Meanwhile, the outsiders' arrival fulfilled an ancient prophecy for the Dani: legends foretold light-skinned "spirits" would climb down a rope from the sky to herald the End of Days. Now the natives had to decide whether to befriend the spirits or kill them.
What followed was perhaps the greatest untold story of World War II, a gripping tale of survival, discovery, anthropology, heroism, and a near-impossible rescue mission. For seven weeks, John, Ken, and Margaret experienced one remarkable adventure after another - some terrifying, some enlightening, some comic. Margaret chronicled it all in the detailed shorthand diary she kept during their time in the valley, an invaluable resource from which Zuckoff references and quotes directly.
Throughout this time, the Army's Far East Command staff struggled to devise a rescue plan - vacillating between two 150-mile marches, one way through headhunter territory and the other through 10,000 Japanese troops. The plan they eventually enacted could have been pulled from a comic book: A lightweight glider would be dropped on the floor of the valley, then with everyone onboard, an army plane would swoop down to hook a cable attached to the glider and pull it up above the jungle. Any wind could have easily thrown both the plane and the glider into the mountains on all sides. A rogue filmmaker with a checkered past as a B-movie actor and a jewel thief parachuted in to capture the daring attempts to pull off the rescue. And the Dani chose to spare their lives and aided in their descent from the mountain into the lush region known as Hidden Valley but nicknamed "Shangri-la."
Zuckoff lives near Boston with his wife, Boston Globe photographer Suzanne Kreiter, and their two daughters.
Praise for Mitchell Zuckoff:
"Mitch brings those terrifying months in New Guinea into perfect focus, while entertaining and engaging his audience. It was wonderful, and we're a tough audience."
-- Kate Dobson, Cancer Clinics of Excellence
Praise for Lost in Shangri-la:
"Lost in Shangri-la is a riveting work of narrative history and a thrilling journey to the beginning of time. . . Zuckoff embarks on an amazing adventure of his own, climbing mountains and braving jungles, to resurrect witnesses and discover remnants of the downed plane."
-- James L. Swanson, New York Times best-selling author of Manhunt
"A lost world, man-eating tribesmen, lush and impenetrable jungles, stranded American fliers (one of them a dame with great gams, for heaven's sake), a startling rescue mission. And then, an unread diary and a single survivor living quietly half a century later in Oregon, still remembered by the jungle-men of New Guinea. This is a true story made in heaven for a writer as talented as Mitchell Zuckoff. Whew - what an utterly compelling and deeply satisfying read!"
-- Simon Winchester, New York Times best-selling author of The Professor and the Madman, The Man Who Loved China, The Map that Changed the World, Krakatoa, and A Crack in the Edge of the World
"Former Boston Globe reporter Zuckoff delivers a remarkable survival story. Polished, fast-paced and immensely readable - ready for the big screen."
-- Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Photo by Suzanne Kreiter