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The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world and his powerful, influential family guessing for years.
The 23-year old, along with the Dutch anthropologist René Wessing and two young guides, were sailing in a dugout catamaran some three miles from the coast of Asmat. The craft overturned; the two locals swam for help, but as the wreck drifted farther from land an impatient Rockefeller decided to try and make it alone. With two fuel cans to help his buoyancy on what he reckoned would be a twenty-hour swim, he slid into the warm shallows of the Arafura Sea - never to be seen by friends or family again. Did he drown? Was he eaten by a shark? Did he vanish into the jungle, Kurtz-like? Or was he the victim of cannibalism at the hands of coastal villagers? Despite exhaustive searches, no trace of Rockefeller was ever found and his death was officially ruled a drowning. Yet doubts lingered. Sensational rumors and stories circulated, fuelling speculation and intrigue for decades. The real story has long waited to be told—until now.
As reported in The Bulletion of December 1961:
Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story. Retracing Rockefeller's steps, award-winning journalist Carl Hoffman traveled to the jungles of New Guinea, immersing himself in a world of headhunters and cannibals, secret spirits and customs, and getting to know generations of Asmat. Through exhaustive archival research, he uncovered never-before-seen original documents and located witnesses willing to speak publically after fifty years.
Carl Hoffman is also the author of "The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure" and "The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes".
Further details of book cover
The Asmat of New Guinea
An article by the author in the magazine of the Smithsonian Institute
In "Savage Harvest" he finally solves this decades-old mystery and illuminates a culture transformed by years of colonial rule, whose people continue to be shaped by ancient customs and lore. Combining history, art, colonialism, adventure, and ethnography, "Savage Harvest" is a mesmerizing whodunit, and a fascinating portrait of the clash between two civilizations that resulted in one of America's richest and most powerful scions being eaten by cannibals. In that place and at that time, "We’d love to have you over for dinner" took on a whole new meaning.
Despite this book, speculations continue as evidenced by these articles in the New York Post and Daily Mail and as recently as September 2018.
