Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life

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. (Mar.)