Part memoir, part biography, this non-fiction delves into the mystery of the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller, son of Nelson Rockefeller, in 1961. At age 23, Michael had just graduated from Harvard. He traveled to what was then Netherlands New Guinea (now part of Indonesian Papua) to film a documentary and collect artifacts for his father’s Museum of Primitive Art. Michael and his colleague, René Wassing, were crossing the mouth of a turbulent river in a catamaran on the Arafura sea off the southwest coast of New Guinea when the boat capsized. Michael thought he could make it to shore to get help, so he swam away and was never seen again. His companion stayed with the boat and was rescued the next day. An extensive search was conducted by the authorities, but nothing substantial was found, and eventually they declared Michael had drowned. Rumors began to spread that he made it to shore but was killed by the men from the nearby village of Otsjanep. The Asmat had practiced headhunting and cannibalism, which was thought to have been eradicated due to the influence of Catholic missionaries and colonial authorities. The author decided to retrace Michael’s steps and search for evidence to solve the mystery surrounding his death.

This book touches on a fascinating combination of anthropology, art, spiritual beliefs, cultural dissonance, history, political coverups, the dynamics of power, and the gruesome specter of cannibalism. It shifts narratives between Michael’s trip in 1961 and the author’s trip in 2012. It relates the history of the territorial dispute regarding Netherlands New Guinea and the political tensions between the Dutch and Indonesian governments, which impacted Rockefeller’s disappearance. The greatest strength of this book may also be its greatest weakness. Hoffman is a journalist, and his research is based on solid reporting techniques, and an analysis of interviews, historical documents, letters, and journals. He seeks out the “big picture,” but as a journalist, it seems he could not resist the temptation to insert a sensationalistic and graphic depiction of what “could” have happened to Michael. The writing style is uneven, at times choppy and other times eloquent. The author traveled twice to the region, once with an American journalist’s approach of asking direct questions and expecting direct answers, and the second time with a more nuanced perspective of gaining an understanding of the Asmat people by living among them and recognizing their complexities. The book brings up thought-provoking questions about the accumulation of artifacts without understanding of the meaning behind them, and of attempting to judge the past based on modern viewpoints.

Hoffman makes a good case for his interpretation of events. He sheds light on the culture of the Asmat people and puts it in context of the time and place and leaves it to the reader to render a verdict. This book will appeal to those that enjoy unsolved mysteries, world history, or cultural anthropology. ( )

Interesting enough. Was well written and featured intriguing subject matter, kept me reading yet was somehow less riveting than it should have been. The reveal at the end was a bit underwhelming. ( )

"The cultural collision was too great, the power imbalance too extreme, between men who knew nothing beyond their immediate world and men who thought they knew everything." (p. 81)

That line stands as a fair assessment of Michael Rockefeller's 1961 foray to the Asmat of New Guinea and for Hoffman's own first trip there in early 2012: both affluent, white, Western men who rode above the "primitive," unconsciously blind to the reality inhabited by the indigenous. Hoffman's epiphany relative to the Asmat grows upon him, but he remains either blind to or accessory with the constructs within his own, Western world. Prestige in the West comes from wealth, and Hoffman seems to accept that wealth is apparently a moral good of its own; that implicit thread made some of this book really unappealing.

This book is an odd mix of travel documentary, cold case investigation, journey of individual spiritual growth, ethnography, and Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The switching back and forth from a thread of past events to Hoffman's 2012 experiences is a strength of the book; since each narrative shapes the other as it plays out, I appreciated watching Hoffman's understanding change how he interacted with the Asmat, and thus how the cold case appeared to him. What he has to say regarding Rockefeller's death notwithstanding, this book really is about Hoffman's own awakening and that much really is a pleasure to watch unfold. I do wish, though, that "travel journalists" would bother to get a BA in anthropology before assuming the role of ethnographic writers. Much of his anthro theory and understanding is piecemeal and out-of-date, and perhaps he should have bothered to learn the language before he went there.

A small note to the publisher relative to this edition: it was unhelpful that several key villages (i.e., Atsj, Basim) are not on the map of the Asmat Tribal Area provided and yet a small constellation of villages never involved in the book at all are included. Why? ( )

I first heard about this story in an article somewhere - Smithsonian Magazine, The New Yorker, or something along those lines - and, mentioning it offhand to my father as an interesting bit of history, ended up getting this for Christmas.

I want to like this book more, because there's something interesting to the idea of trying to uncover what happened to Rockefeller - the question of how much you can really know about an event that took place in a time and place with no cameras, no DNA, no fingerprints, etc. - and Hoffman's travels among the people of the region are interesting and seem to go beyond your standard travelogue. However, Hoffman blows what little trust he has from the jump with a lurid theory about Rockefeller's fate initially presented as fact, which set my teeth on edge for the entire rest of the book. It sometimes feels like the bare minimum is being done to not make this a sensationalistic account, and while I want to think Hoffman had good intentions in writing all of this, in the end it all comes out in the wash and just rated as a standard travel/history book for me. ( )

An amazing story. The author's thoroughness and detail are extraordinary. But what really sets this book apart is his desire to understand the people, culture and history of Asmat, and his ability to describe these things in such a vivid and palpable way. ( )