''Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II'' is a 2011 non-fiction book by American author
Mitchell Zuckoff about a US military airplane called
"The Gremlin Special", which crashed on May 13, 1945 in
Netherlands New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...
, and the subsequent rescue of the survivors.
[ Mitchell Zuckoff. ''Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II'', Harper (April 26, 2011). ] Because it involved a female WAC Corporal lost in the jungle with "savages", the public became keenly interested in following the story.
It was written about in the November 1945 issue of ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
'' magazine, and many other press channels. In 2011 Zuckoff published a modern retelling based on interviews with surviving Americans and New Guineans, and other previously unpublished information.
Background
The airplane started from
Hollandia in
Netherlands New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...
(at the time part of
Netherlands Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, nowadays
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
) as a
pleasure flight over a remote valley in New Guinea with 24 passengers, but only three people survived the crash:
WAC corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
Margaret Hastings, sergeant Kenneth Decker and lieutenant John McCollom. They were later
rescued by paratroopers who carried them out in
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
s.
The name "Shangri-La" was given by the press, lifted from the 1933 novel ''
Lost Horizon
''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamas ...
''. The "Gremlin" in the plane's name was borrowed from the myth of
Gremlin
A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widel ...
s, which are
often associated to mishaps and mechanical troubles of airplanes.
Awards and honors
''
Salon'' and ''
Kirkus Reviews'' named ''Lost in Shangri-La'' one of the best nonfiction books of 2011.
Adaptation
In 2019,
3000 Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
purchased the film rights to adapt ''Lost in Shangri-La'' into a film with the screenplay co-written by Zuckoff and
Richard Abate.
See also
References
{{reflist
External links
''Kirkus Reviews'' starred review''Library Journal'' reviewNPR Review: "A WWII Survival Epic Unfolds Deep In 'Shangri-La'
''Publishers Weekly'' starred review
1945 short stories
2011 non-fiction books
Works about Papua New Guinea
HarperCollins books