.com Review An Best Book of the Month, March 2014: “I think I can make it.” In 1961, while on an expedition to collect pieces for his father’s Museum of Primitive Art, Michael Rockefeller and his traveling companion were plunged into the warm waters off New Guinea. The billionaire scion tied two empty gas cans to his body for floatation and swam for shore, and by most accounts, he made it. But what happened there, when he encountered members of the Asmat tribe--a culture marked by ritual violence and cannibalism--has been long debated. Did he disappear into the tropical jungles, or was he rendered and eaten by the tribesmen, as many speculated and the Rockefeller family long denied? Award-winning journalist Carl Hoffman has stepped into Rockefeller’s boot prints and Asmat society, interviewing generations of warriors in an exhaustive and engrossing attempt to solve the mystery. The result, Savage Harvest, succeeds not only as a captivating and sensational puzzle, but also as a (seemingly unlikely) modern adventure and a fascinating glimpse of an anachronistic people pulled into the 20th century by the tensions of global politics. So, did he make it? The title might offer a clue. --Jon Foro Simon WinchesterView larger Simon Winchester Reviews Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art Carl Hoffman, who with his 2010 book The Lunatic Express demonstrated himself to be a traveler of the greatest courage and determination, as well as a writer of skill, has now made a significant contribution to history. Savage Harvest, a narrative that is as exciting as it is instructive, appears finally to have winnowed the truth from the mare’s nest of legend and wishful thinking surrounding the disappearance in November 1961, of Michael Rockefeller, in a remote region of southwestern New Guinea.The 23-year old, along with a Dutch anthropologist colleague 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? Hoffman has shown that with assiduous tradecraft, hard work and near-obsessive tenacity, it is possible to know, to solve the supposedly insoluble. He has journeyed, twice now, deep into the dark interiors of Asmat, and has conducted interviews and learned the language and listened to sensible men and women – in New Guinea, in the Netherlands, in the anthropology departments of knowledgeable universities. And he has used a severe intelligence to determine just what happened on that warm dawn Monday, November 20, 1961.The Rockefellers – not least Michael’s twin sister Mary, who produced her own book two years ago – may not want to believe this tale; and the family did nothing to help Hoffman in his admirable quest. But the truth, as this book chronicles in patient, meticulous detail, has a way of eking itself out. Savage Harvest is a remarkable testament to the revealed truth, and of its revealing - even if that truth is wholly bizarre and, to most, quite literally unpalatable. Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author most recently of The Men Who United the States as well as Atlantic, The Professor and the Madman, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. In 2006 Mr. Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts. Read more From Booklist *Starred Review* Award-winning travel writer Hoffman’s (The Lunatic Express, 2010) penchant for extremes fueled his demanding quest for the truth about Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance in New Guinea in 1961. Freshly graduated from Harvard and eager to emulate his art collector father, Nelson Rockefeller, then governor of New York, Michael became enthralled with the Asmat’s extraordinary wood carvings and was dashing from village to village, buying as many pieces as he could find, when his boat capsized in rough seas. Death by drowning was the official finding, but rumors of a far more horrific fate persisted. After arduous sojourns among the enigmatic Asmat, Hoffman came to understand how their ancient cosmology was enacted through “reciprocal violence,” headhunting, and cannibalism. He also realized just how risky Rockefeller’s buying spree was, given the bloody conflicts raging between the Asmat and the Dutch colonial authorities, and how little the novice collector knew about the spiritual significance of the art he was acquiring, including monumental works on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By dint of grueling fieldwork, startling archival discoveries, revelatory visits with a Dutch missionary relieved to break his 50-year silence, profound insights, and muscular writing, Hoffman tells the unforgettable story of a soothing and politically expedient cover-up and a brutal and tragic collision of cultures. --Donna Seaman Read more See all Editorial Reviews
S**K
Gripping
Thanks to the daily kindle specials I'm offered, I have read many books I wouldn't have searched for. Savage Harvest was a pleasant surprise. There are many good reviews so I won't be repetitive.There IS a map of the villages and I don't see how this book could be written without going back and forth in time. I certainly didn't find it tedious. Quite the contrary, I couldn't put it down. This kindle version doesn't have the option to find out what percentage of the book has been read/remains so I kept going as I thought I must be nearing the end...and it's now 11 am.I'll be in NYC in a couple of months and I'll have to visit the Museum of Primitive Art at MOMA. I read this on an iPad but will have it on my iPhone 6+ so will be able to refer to the book while there. This is an exciting prospect. To actually SEE the artifacts that Michael Rockefeller acquired and see his photographs will be a big thrill. I hope his journals will also be on display.The cover made me think I was getting a book written decades ago yet the book was published in 2014 and Hoffman's trips were in 2012. It was interesting to see that "ramen" is now a major part of their diet. And the references to John who lives between two villages and works elsewhere for money and has adopted a more modern lifestyle (including satellite TV and watches CNN and BBC) was fascinating.Quite poignant was the author's realization that despite the really primitive conditions he felt a sense of kinship and belonging to a community. He talks about how his father left behind his Orthodox Jewish upbringing and Carl and his sister grew up in a small insular household among families with numerous children.If you like non-fiction, travel narratives, and biographies/memoirs genres, then this has it all. Highly recommend.
D**W
Fascinating historical piece - book could have done better
Prior to reading this book, I had not heard of the story of Michael Rockefeller, and his tragic fate, so this story was totally new to me, and i was really excited to read it. The story is fascinating because of the mix of cultures involved, Dutch colonial ambitions, geopolitical historical aspects, as well as the nature of the wealthy, powerful Rockefeller family. The story presents prime fodder for great characters and a great mystery. It will not spoil the story to say that the fundamental question is "how did Michael Rockefeller die?". The book tells the story by jumping back and forth from more recent times during the author's research and back to the time of Michael's time on the island, up until he disappeared, and the ensuing large search effort. The jumping back and forth in time makes some parts of the book challenging. In addition, the book is made more challenging by the difficulty I had with place names and people names. There are numerous locations of importance referred to in the book, but there is not a single map - I wish there had been at least one map (several times I used Google maps on my smart phone). With regard to people's names, particularly the names of New Guinea tribe and family names, a family tree and/or timeline of relatives would have helped the understanding, and therefore the enjoyment of reading. Coupled with the disjointed time structure, the lack of maps and challenges with place/people names/relations, this book is not as good as it could have been. However, I still enjoyed it, and glad I read it, because the coincidence of peoples in New Guinea at this time in history is really interesting. Regarding the question of Michael's actual fate, I left the book no more convinced of any proposed way in which he could have died. I will not say more on this, so I don't spoil it for others - you'll have to make up your own mind.
K**Y
From Murder Mystery to Mysteries of Life
This book is a thorough investigation into the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea in the 1960's. But much more than that it is a journey into the mind set of the local people and how they dealt with and deal with their transformation from a closely held culture where logical relations between spirits and humans buttress their way of life into a "modern" culture overlain with government, religion, and lifestyles replete with unsatisfactory contradictions. The author seeks not to judge, but to explain. Starting with a murder mystery he ends up understanding a mind set that can include headhunting and cannibalism.
S**P
Brilliantly researched, a remarkable result after half a century
Hoffman manages to come up with as close to a clear conclusion on the death of Rockefeller as can be made, half a century after others had failed to do so. His patient immersion in Asmat culture yields dividends when he gets the descendants of those who probably ritually killed Rockefeller to almost admit it.The book is particularly fascinating in the way it interweaves the history, politics, and culture of the time, to show how these all converge on an eager, bright, but unfortunate young man. For example, how the "domino theory" of Asian communism led President Kennedy to try to placate Sukarno and oppose the Dutch. How Dutch colonialists, trying to show that the Netherlands were in control of Papua, led them to murder Asmat, which in turn led the Asmat to take revenge on hapless Rockefeller.The book portrays the Asmat culture to us Westerners in a way that helps to understand their world view. I have visited other remote clans in Papua New Guinea and have some understanding of this. Hoffman gets you deep into these natives' culture.I fault Hoffman for his annoying jumping around in time, backwards and forwards over and over. Very frustrating.And the paperback deserves a more attractive cover!A brilliant study. A compelling read.
F**U
Heady Memories
It was hard to stomach the initial descriptions of the tribal rites, at first. Then, the realization of modern factual events intersecting with my own travels in that geographical vicinity made Hoffman's quest more personal. I even had to check my high school yearbook for my Dutch Indonesian boyfriend's picture to "ground" myself into Hoffman's story. Grossly riveting at times, the mystery of Rockefeller's disappearance came to a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
