Lost
Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life
-
-
4.8 • 6 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Unravel one of history's greatest mysteries in this spellbinding narrative exploring three leading theories of Amelia Earhart's tragic disappearance.When Amelia Earhart's plane disappeared in 1937, the clues poured in, attracting wild conspiracies about her tragic fate.In Lost, former National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan delves into Earhart's disappearance, introducing a host of eccentric characters who have become obsessed with finding the truth. Did the great aviator crash land near the Marshall Islands, only to be captured by Japanese soldiers? Did she manage to land on Nikumaroro Island but die of injury or starvation? Or did she run out of fuel and crash into the ocean?Interspersed with the search for Earhart is the story of her extraordinary life: her unstable childhood, her itinerant early career, and how a PR-savvy publisher transformed her into an aviation icon and became her husband in an unconventional marriage.In the spirit of nonfiction blockbusters like The Lost City of Z, Hartigan draws us into the world of Earhart's devotees and unspools a beguiling tale. The theories lead Hartigan from the pilot's birthplace of Atchison, Kansas to an expedition on a remote Pacific Island, where forensic dogs attempt to recover a potential sample of Earhart's DNA.As tantilizing new evidence mounts, Hartigan and her fellow investigators descend deeper into a world of conspiracy and obsession. Through its irresistible characters and prodigious research, Lost reveals not just why we remember Amelia Earhart as a trailblazer and adventurer, but why unsolved mysteries keep us forever searching for answers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former Washington Post Book World editor Hartigan revisits the 1937 disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart in this globe-trotting debut. Weaving a biography of Earhart with accounts of contemporary search efforts employing cutting-edge technology, Hartigan restores a sense of wonder to Earhart's all-too-human quest to exceed expectations and contemplates the similar impulse to greatness that motivates Earhart-ologists. In an enticing fish-out-of-water prologue, Hartigan, "a married, middle-aged mother no one had ever mistaken for adventurous," recaps how she got drawn into the search for Earhart while on assignment for National Geographic in 2017, reporting on the first of a series of remote expeditions she would eventually accompany, which saw her trailing after anthropologists, human remains-sniffing dogs, and hi-tech autonomous vehicles across atolls and open water. The three prevailing theories of Earhart's disappearance—that she was executed by the Japanese, stranded on a desert island, or killed on impact—get aired out via profiles of the theories' most prominent adherents, each of whom is steadfast in their belief that they are close to solving the mystery, and that doing so will ensure fame and fortune. Biographical sections depict Earhart as a fearless flyer eager to confront every challenge but frequently hampered by financial woes and an adoring public nonetheless critical of money-making endorsements and unladylike behavior. It's a humanistic navigation of an exuberant, questing life that continues to inspire adventure.
