Savage Harvest
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The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in remote New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world, and even Michael's powerful, influential family, guessing for years. Now, the author, a journalist has uncovered startling new evidence that tells the full, astonishing story. On November 21, 1961, Michael C. Rockefeller, the twenty-three-year-old son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, vanished off the coast of southwest New Guinea when his catamaran capsized while crossing a turbulent river mouth. He was on an expedition to collect art for the Museum of Primitive Art, which his father had founded in 1957, and his expedition partner, who stayed with the boat and was later rescued, shared Michael's final words as he swam for help: "I think I can make it." Despite exhaustive searches by air, ground, and sea, no trace of Michael was ever found. Soon after his disappearance, rumors surfaced that he had made it to shore, where he was then killed and eaten by the local Asmat, a native tribe of warriors whose complex culture was built around sacred, reciprocal violence, headhunting, and ritual cannibalism. The Dutch government and the Rockefeller family vehemently denied the story, and Michael's death was officially ruled a drowning. While the cause of death was accepted publicly, doubts lingered and sensational stories circulated, fueling speculation and intrigue for decades. The real story has long waited to be told, until now. Retracing Michael's steps, the author traveled to the jungles of New Guinea, immersing himself in a world of former headhunters and cannibals, secret spirits and customs, and getting to know generations of Asmat. Through exhaustive archival research, he has uncovered hundreds of pages of never-before-seen original documents and located witnesses willing to speak publicly for the first time in fifty years. In this book 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. This is a portrait of the clash of two civilizations that resulted in the death of one of America's richest and most powerful scions. - Jacket.
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Hoffman's book tells not only of Michael Rockefeller's disappearance in Netherlands New Guinea (now Irian Jaya, or West Papua, a part of Indonesia), but also the authors two visits to the same area in his research.
Michael Rockefeller had spent a lot of time in the Asmat area of Dutch New Guinea, with a guide / translator attempting to purchase ‘stone age artifacts' from the towns in the region. Those items he succeeded in purchasing are part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as a part of the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection.
It was in 1961 that Rockefeller and Dutch anthropologist Rene Wassing and two native guides were making their way along the coast in the 40 foot canoe Rockefeller had bought from the natives, when it capsized. Both men were unharmed, and the guides immediately swam for shore to raise help. Almost two days later, Rockefeller determined that he could swim to shore, as they began to doubt a rescue was underway. Wassing argued against this action, and remained with the capsized boat to be rescued some time shortly after. Rockefeller was not seen again.
The political situation at the time was messy. The Dutch were under pressure for Dutch New Guinea to become a part of Indonesia. The Dutch had commenced a propaganda drive to emphasise how much the natives benefited from Dutch rule - that they were steadily becoming Christian, that headhunting had ceased, and education and health were improving. America had a neutral stance, and the disappearance of a high profile American was considered by Dutch leaders as an opportunity to gain good international press if things were to work out positively. They suppressed as much as possible any rumours and stories about Rockefeller reaching shore. They promoted the view that he was drowned or taken by sharks or crocodiles.
As so anyone who stepped out of line with the official report, such as Father Hurbertus van Peij and Father Cornelius van Kessel were removed from Dutch New Guinea, and their reports to their superiors were also suppressed.
In this book the chapter titles are dates (month and year), and do jump around a little, but generally maintain their two timelines - Rockefeller's 1957 - 1961, and Hoffmans in 2012.
Hoffman gives a good account of the facts known and is pretty clear where he speculates. My only criticism of the book is it does become quite repetitive - because Hoffman is continually hearing stories all along the same lines - and continues to tell us them from each source. The other aspect which makes it a little confusing is something beyond the authors control, but many of the place names, and peoples names are similar and this creates a little confusion. Asmat is the region and the tribe, and Agat (a town), Amates ( a guides name), and a bunch of other places and people. Starting with B, were are not much better off, towns named Baiyuan, Biwar Lautv & Betjew, tribesemen named Bif, Ber, Bere and Bese!
So, is there an outcome, solid evidence, a confession? That would be telling, but if you are not troubled by spoilers, the Wikipedia entry for Michael Rockefeller describes the outcome of Hoffmans book.
Enjoyable at 3.5 stars, rounded down.
