What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life
Unravel one of history's greatest mysteries in this spellbinding narrative exploring three leading theories of Amelia Earhart's tragic disappearance.When Amelia Earhart's plane disappeared in 1937, the clues poured in, attracting wild conspiracies about her tragic fate.In Lost, former National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan delves into Earhart's disappearance, introducing a host of eccentric characters who have become obsessed with finding the truth. Did the great aviator crash land near the Marshall Islands, only to be captured by Japanese soldiers? Did she manage to land on Nikumaroro Island but die of injury or starvation? Or did she run out of fuel and crash into the ocean?Interspersed with the search for Earhart is the story of her extraordinary her unstable childhood, her itinerant early career, and how a PR-savvy publisher transformed her into an aviation icon and became her husband in an unconventional marriage.In the spirit of nonfiction blockbusters like The Lost City of Z, Hartigan draws us into the world of Earhart's devotees and unspools a beguiling tale. The theories lead Hartigan from the pilot's birthplace of Atchison, Kansas to an expedition on a remote Pacific Island, where forensic dogs attempt to recover a potential sample of Earhart's DNA.As tantilizing new evidence mounts, Hartigan and her fellow investigators descend deeper into a world of conspiracy and obsession. Through its irresistible characters and prodigious research, Lost reveals not just why we remember Amelia Earhart as a trailblazer and adventurer, but why unsolved mysteries keep us forever searching for answers.
377 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 3, 2026
96 people are currently reading
11902 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
Read
January 4, 2026I have read other books about Amelia Earhart. This is a really great book and the best I have read about Earhart. A very informative and interesting book. There will always be a mystery of what really happened. A very intriguing book. Highly recommend.
March 8, 2026
A brilliant book about the endlessly fascinating mystery of Amelia Earhart and the incredibly interesting woman it revolved around.
Rachel Hartigan deftly balances a biography of Earhart's life with the mystery that has consumed the world since her disappearance in 1937. The book alternates chapters between meticulously curated details about Earhart's childhood, early life, and her trajectory into aviation, and all the hypotheses about the actual disappearance of the flight and the self-motivated people who tried to find it even decades later. There are several theories about where Earhart's Electra ended up, each with a microscopic amount of evidence, and it is fascinating to learn how the mystery is still being decoded.
I didn't know much about Earhart other than the fact that she was one of the pioneers of aviation in its early days, a feminist icon, and disappeared in a tragic, unexplained incident as she flew over the ocean. This book was perfect for someone even slightly curious about Earhart, like me, and managed to be both informative and truly entertaining, which is rare for a non-fiction book. It reads both like a biography and a compelling mystery drama: highly recommended!
Thank you, Netgalley and National Geographic, for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Rachel Hartigan deftly balances a biography of Earhart's life with the mystery that has consumed the world since her disappearance in 1937. The book alternates chapters between meticulously curated details about Earhart's childhood, early life, and her trajectory into aviation, and all the hypotheses about the actual disappearance of the flight and the self-motivated people who tried to find it even decades later. There are several theories about where Earhart's Electra ended up, each with a microscopic amount of evidence, and it is fascinating to learn how the mystery is still being decoded.
I didn't know much about Earhart other than the fact that she was one of the pioneers of aviation in its early days, a feminist icon, and disappeared in a tragic, unexplained incident as she flew over the ocean. This book was perfect for someone even slightly curious about Earhart, like me, and managed to be both informative and truly entertaining, which is rare for a non-fiction book. It reads both like a biography and a compelling mystery drama: highly recommended!
Thank you, Netgalley and National Geographic, for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Read
March 2, 20263.5 ⭐
What is it about Amelia Earhart and her missing plane that fascinates us all?
Author Rachel Hartigan shares how hopes were escalated in 2019 when an underwater vehicle discovered an object at 4800m below sea level just off the coast of the “island of Nikumaroro, an uninhabited coral atoll just shy of the equator” where Earhart and Noonan’s Lockheed Electra 10e was said to have likely disappeared in 1937.
She shares about the limitations of the sonar imaging used to locate the wreck, checking the dimensions of the object to see if they match those of the Electra, that researchers still claim the wreck is roughly on Earhart’s flight route and will send equipment down to the site again, and that there are claims the two may have been captured and killed in Saipan, Japan, by a firing squad. Each theory is discussed and questions are raised. I didn’t feel like anything was too technical and I felt that the information was reliable. I’ll admit to being as frustrated looking for answers when I finished the book as before I started.
Part biography, part a search for answers, this book will appeal to those who've been curious about the disappearance and those who recall hearing about a possible discovery.
Hartigan asks a thought-provoking question:
“Amelia’s closest relatives endured the unresolved nature of her death and their grief for the rest of their days. Why can’t we?”
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
What is it about Amelia Earhart and her missing plane that fascinates us all?
Author Rachel Hartigan shares how hopes were escalated in 2019 when an underwater vehicle discovered an object at 4800m below sea level just off the coast of the “island of Nikumaroro, an uninhabited coral atoll just shy of the equator” where Earhart and Noonan’s Lockheed Electra 10e was said to have likely disappeared in 1937.
She shares about the limitations of the sonar imaging used to locate the wreck, checking the dimensions of the object to see if they match those of the Electra, that researchers still claim the wreck is roughly on Earhart’s flight route and will send equipment down to the site again, and that there are claims the two may have been captured and killed in Saipan, Japan, by a firing squad. Each theory is discussed and questions are raised. I didn’t feel like anything was too technical and I felt that the information was reliable. I’ll admit to being as frustrated looking for answers when I finished the book as before I started.
Part biography, part a search for answers, this book will appeal to those who've been curious about the disappearance and those who recall hearing about a possible discovery.
Hartigan asks a thought-provoking question:
“Amelia’s closest relatives endured the unresolved nature of her death and their grief for the rest of their days. Why can’t we?”
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
February 19, 2026
ADVANCE REVIEW COPY – RELEASE DATE: MARCH 3, 2026
When you think Amelia Earhart, what do you think? You should think about her accomplishments in aviation, her dedication to social justice, and her role in the early women’s rights movements. But chances are, the first thing you conjure is, of course, her mysterious disappearance. Or maybe Amy Adams’ over-the-top portrayal of her in the “Night at the Museum” movies. Hey, I’m guilty of it, too.
But if you’re as curious as I was about the woman behind the puzzle, this is your book.
Hartigan uses a simple but effective method: she alternates chapters. One will discuss an aspect of her disappearance, the next will cover her biography. Usually, I prefer the more linear method, but this structure just worked perfectly. It’s almost as if she wanted to convey that Earhart’s interesting and impactful life was just as important as her disappearance.
Hartigan lays out all the theories and investigations from 1937 until today, with some still ongoing. The term from the title, “Three Mysterious Deaths,” indicates the three main theories of what happened to Earhart and Noonan (her navigator):
1. They ran out of fuel and crashed in the ocean
2. They landed somewhere, somehow, and died as castaways on a deserted island
3. They were captured by the Japanese (and either executed or recruited as spies)
Thus, this part is quasi-linear. It gets a little jargon-y, so I went into “scan mode”: I just kind of got the gist of it and looked for the conclusions. But you’ll have to read it with – spoiler alert – the fact that none of the investigations have been successful. (So far.) Hartigan presents them with National Geographic-like curiosity and precision, not frenzied sensationalism.
However, what I appreciated most about this was the rich and meaningful description of an American heroine. The tragedy of her death seems to overshadow the triumph of her life, and Hartigan changed my focus. Earhart did things women just didn’t do at that time in history, and flying was just one part of it. From growing up playing sports and exploring nature, to making speeches to rapt audiences, to teaching aviation and business at the university level, to working for the betterment of her community in settlement houses, her life was one of service and discovery.
What’s more, she had her share of challenges, and not just battling sexism. She wasn’t dirt poor, but she also didn’t have unlimited resources. Society also expected her to settle down in the traditional American family style, but that just wasn’t her. She’s the kind of person I’d like to have met, and it’d be easy to call her a role model in any generation. Hartigan doesn’t canonize her, but opens our eyes to what’s been overlooked: a tremendous life that should overshadow her death.
It’s my hope this biography hits the big time, since it’s a subject worth noting and is written in a precise but emotional style. Go get it!
Thanks to NetGalley and none other than National Geographic for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life will be released March 3, 2026.
When you think Amelia Earhart, what do you think? You should think about her accomplishments in aviation, her dedication to social justice, and her role in the early women’s rights movements. But chances are, the first thing you conjure is, of course, her mysterious disappearance. Or maybe Amy Adams’ over-the-top portrayal of her in the “Night at the Museum” movies. Hey, I’m guilty of it, too.
But if you’re as curious as I was about the woman behind the puzzle, this is your book.
Hartigan uses a simple but effective method: she alternates chapters. One will discuss an aspect of her disappearance, the next will cover her biography. Usually, I prefer the more linear method, but this structure just worked perfectly. It’s almost as if she wanted to convey that Earhart’s interesting and impactful life was just as important as her disappearance.
Hartigan lays out all the theories and investigations from 1937 until today, with some still ongoing. The term from the title, “Three Mysterious Deaths,” indicates the three main theories of what happened to Earhart and Noonan (her navigator):
1. They ran out of fuel and crashed in the ocean
2. They landed somewhere, somehow, and died as castaways on a deserted island
3. They were captured by the Japanese (and either executed or recruited as spies)
Thus, this part is quasi-linear. It gets a little jargon-y, so I went into “scan mode”: I just kind of got the gist of it and looked for the conclusions. But you’ll have to read it with – spoiler alert – the fact that none of the investigations have been successful. (So far.) Hartigan presents them with National Geographic-like curiosity and precision, not frenzied sensationalism.
However, what I appreciated most about this was the rich and meaningful description of an American heroine. The tragedy of her death seems to overshadow the triumph of her life, and Hartigan changed my focus. Earhart did things women just didn’t do at that time in history, and flying was just one part of it. From growing up playing sports and exploring nature, to making speeches to rapt audiences, to teaching aviation and business at the university level, to working for the betterment of her community in settlement houses, her life was one of service and discovery.
What’s more, she had her share of challenges, and not just battling sexism. She wasn’t dirt poor, but she also didn’t have unlimited resources. Society also expected her to settle down in the traditional American family style, but that just wasn’t her. She’s the kind of person I’d like to have met, and it’d be easy to call her a role model in any generation. Hartigan doesn’t canonize her, but opens our eyes to what’s been overlooked: a tremendous life that should overshadow her death.
It’s my hope this biography hits the big time, since it’s a subject worth noting and is written in a precise but emotional style. Go get it!
Thanks to NetGalley and none other than National Geographic for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life will be released March 3, 2026.
September 8, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and National Geographic [the publisher] for an eARC of Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life by Rachel Hartigan, with an expected publication date in March of 2026, in return for an honest review.
I have never been obsessed with the mystery of Earhart’s disappearance, but have been intrigued over the years at the periodic articles about the latest theory/discovery concerning her disappearance. She has become a figure of adulation and the center of a number of conspiracy theories. Was she a spy for the US in the years leading up to the war against Japan in WWII. Was she a Japanese spy, whose disappearance allowed her to go to Japan and become Tokyo Rose during the war? These are just two of the conspiracies covered in Hartigan’s fascinating book. While not a predominant theme, the author explores the role of conspiracy thought in American history.
The author was a journalist working for National Geographic, and participated in a couple expeditions to the Pacific in attempts to locate the remains of Earhart’s plane or even her remains. The book alternates between Earhart’s biography and an exploration of what went wrong on her last flight. Hartigan does a good job of laying out the various theories behind many of the attempts to locate her. [Some my find too much detail, but the detail is necessary to explain why the explorers searched where they did.] Despite her own role in the search, the author remains in the background, giving the reader enough to understand her experience and interest in the topic. I have not read any other biographies of Earhart, but Lost provides an excellent exposition of her life.
Reading Lost you get a sense of the adulation that continues around Earhart, in part as a feminist icon. Last time that I looked, Goodreads lists almost 1,000 entries with her as a subject, many of them for children. I recommend this book, especially for those interested in biographies, history [the history of the early days of aviation], or an exploration of conspiracy thinking.
I have never been obsessed with the mystery of Earhart’s disappearance, but have been intrigued over the years at the periodic articles about the latest theory/discovery concerning her disappearance. She has become a figure of adulation and the center of a number of conspiracy theories. Was she a spy for the US in the years leading up to the war against Japan in WWII. Was she a Japanese spy, whose disappearance allowed her to go to Japan and become Tokyo Rose during the war? These are just two of the conspiracies covered in Hartigan’s fascinating book. While not a predominant theme, the author explores the role of conspiracy thought in American history.
The author was a journalist working for National Geographic, and participated in a couple expeditions to the Pacific in attempts to locate the remains of Earhart’s plane or even her remains. The book alternates between Earhart’s biography and an exploration of what went wrong on her last flight. Hartigan does a good job of laying out the various theories behind many of the attempts to locate her. [Some my find too much detail, but the detail is necessary to explain why the explorers searched where they did.] Despite her own role in the search, the author remains in the background, giving the reader enough to understand her experience and interest in the topic. I have not read any other biographies of Earhart, but Lost provides an excellent exposition of her life.
Reading Lost you get a sense of the adulation that continues around Earhart, in part as a feminist icon. Last time that I looked, Goodreads lists almost 1,000 entries with her as a subject, many of them for children. I recommend this book, especially for those interested in biographies, history [the history of the early days of aviation], or an exploration of conspiracy thinking.
December 29, 2025
The story of Amelia Earhart has been told by countless authors. It is a well-researched subject. But this book does something few others do - it describes in detail Amelia’s life before her disappearance. In Lost, Rachel Hartigan dives deep, detailing this biographical information with suspenseful narration. She speaks about Amelia’s home life and the influences her mother and father had on her childhood. It speaks about her adoring sister, and the influence the World Fair had on her – cultivating a love for aviation that eventually led her to become a pilot. And, about Fred Noonan, to whom she leaned on for aviation advice and guidance.
Interwoven with the biographical information is the story of her last flight and theories of her disappearance. And, while many believe to know what happened to Amelia, spending tens of millions of dollars to search islands and seas, Rachel highlights an important point – we may never discover what became of the famed pilot. The sea is wide and deep, and resources are limited. But nearly 90 years later, interest continues to rise. With luck, we may stumble upon the wreck one day and be able to close this chapter of history.
Overall, Rachel’s writing was enjoyable. The story flowed well, navigating well the distribution of information with a dialogue-like narrative. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Amelia Earhart, aviation mysteries, or strange or mysterious stories.
Many thanks to NetGalley, National Geographic, and Rachel Hartigan for this book in advance of an honest review.
Interwoven with the biographical information is the story of her last flight and theories of her disappearance. And, while many believe to know what happened to Amelia, spending tens of millions of dollars to search islands and seas, Rachel highlights an important point – we may never discover what became of the famed pilot. The sea is wide and deep, and resources are limited. But nearly 90 years later, interest continues to rise. With luck, we may stumble upon the wreck one day and be able to close this chapter of history.
Overall, Rachel’s writing was enjoyable. The story flowed well, navigating well the distribution of information with a dialogue-like narrative. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Amelia Earhart, aviation mysteries, or strange or mysterious stories.
Many thanks to NetGalley, National Geographic, and Rachel Hartigan for this book in advance of an honest review.
February 26, 2026
Thank you Net Galley, Rachel Hartigan and National Geographic for allowing me to read this book in advance.
I have always been curious and interested to know what really happened to Amelia Earhart so when I saw this book offered I knew I had to read it.
I will keep my review brief and spoiler free as I don’t plan to ruin the book for anyone who aims to read it.
There is more to Amelia than most people realize. She has been involved in clothing lines, women’s movements and rights.
I myself being a huge fan of aircraft and female are probably why her life and story has always interested me over the decades.
Thank you for this very interesting story and all the hard work and efforts to try and decipher what really happened to Amelia.
I have always been curious and interested to know what really happened to Amelia Earhart so when I saw this book offered I knew I had to read it.
I will keep my review brief and spoiler free as I don’t plan to ruin the book for anyone who aims to read it.
There is more to Amelia than most people realize. She has been involved in clothing lines, women’s movements and rights.
I myself being a huge fan of aircraft and female are probably why her life and story has always interested me over the decades.
Thank you for this very interesting story and all the hard work and efforts to try and decipher what really happened to Amelia.
March 17, 2026
A concise collection of every endeavor to recover Amelia Earhart and her navigator-- from the moment she disappeared to present day-- mixed with everything we know about Earhart's life. While occasionally I would get confused because of the timeline jumping around, I found myself completely convinced each time a new theory of the famed pilot's disappearance was introduced. Probably not much new information for someone well versed in Earhart's life and mystery, but for someone whose knowledge of her was limited, this was a really good summary.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me access to the advanced copy
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me access to the advanced copy
August 11, 2025
read if you like:
📖 non-fiction
✈️ Amelia Earhart
🤷🏻♀️ missing people
summary:
I’ve always been fascinated by Amelia Earhart since I was little. I mean really — how does someone just disappear? This combined with my love of female heroines made this the perfect book to preview. This story follows National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan on her search around the world for the true story behind Amelia Earhart, as she explores three of the most common theories of her disappearance. Alternating between the story of her life and the details behind these theories, the reader learns more about who Amelia was, what led her to her record-breaking trip, and the mystique behind her legacy.
As someone who hasn’t read a lot about these theories, Hartigan does an excellent job of digging into the details behind them. It’s hard to believe how far fetched some of them were and still are, but she investigates each of them, along with the evidence and research that followed to refute them. The depth of her investigation is impressive, and sadly proves that many of these theories are honestly, unprovable. While the author might go into a little too much detail for the average reader, it would be perfect for any Amelia Earhart fan who wants the complete story.
Thanks to National Geographic and NetGalley for the advanced copy. If you too are fascinated by this mystery, check this out book out when it releases on March 3, 2026.
📖 non-fiction
✈️ Amelia Earhart
🤷🏻♀️ missing people
summary:
I’ve always been fascinated by Amelia Earhart since I was little. I mean really — how does someone just disappear? This combined with my love of female heroines made this the perfect book to preview. This story follows National Geographic reporter Rachel Hartigan on her search around the world for the true story behind Amelia Earhart, as she explores three of the most common theories of her disappearance. Alternating between the story of her life and the details behind these theories, the reader learns more about who Amelia was, what led her to her record-breaking trip, and the mystique behind her legacy.
As someone who hasn’t read a lot about these theories, Hartigan does an excellent job of digging into the details behind them. It’s hard to believe how far fetched some of them were and still are, but she investigates each of them, along with the evidence and research that followed to refute them. The depth of her investigation is impressive, and sadly proves that many of these theories are honestly, unprovable. While the author might go into a little too much detail for the average reader, it would be perfect for any Amelia Earhart fan who wants the complete story.
Thanks to National Geographic and NetGalley for the advanced copy. If you too are fascinated by this mystery, check this out book out when it releases on March 3, 2026.
Read
March 20, 2026In 2017, Rachel Hartigan found herself on the island of Nikumaroro, an uninhabited coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean. She was there on an assignment for National Geographic Magazine, trailing The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).
Their mission: to find Amelia Earhart.
The first woman to fly across the Atlantic. The aviator who vanished in 1937 somewhere in the Pacific during an around-the-world adventure. The superstar whose disappearance (along with that of her plane and her navigator, Fred Noonan) has befuddled and beguiled researchers for nearly 90 years.
Other so-called “Earhart hounds” have different theories. That she was captured by the Japanese, or drowned or even survived and moved back to the US under a different name.
Hartigan tries to make sense of them all in her new book “Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life” (National Geographic).
As the author unspools each of the main theories, “Lost” uncovers an obsessive subculture of amateur sleuths and conspiracy theorists — as well as legit scientists and historians — who have dedicated their lives to solving the mystery.
“I think people are drawn into theories around Earhart because they want an ending to the story,” Hartigan told The Post. “She was a super famous person. How could such a super famous person disappear? And how can we not know the ending? We need to know the ending to the story.”
Read the rest of my piece for the NY Post here: https://nypost.com/2026/03/08/world-n...
Their mission: to find Amelia Earhart.
The first woman to fly across the Atlantic. The aviator who vanished in 1937 somewhere in the Pacific during an around-the-world adventure. The superstar whose disappearance (along with that of her plane and her navigator, Fred Noonan) has befuddled and beguiled researchers for nearly 90 years.
Other so-called “Earhart hounds” have different theories. That she was captured by the Japanese, or drowned or even survived and moved back to the US under a different name.
Hartigan tries to make sense of them all in her new book “Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life” (National Geographic).
As the author unspools each of the main theories, “Lost” uncovers an obsessive subculture of amateur sleuths and conspiracy theorists — as well as legit scientists and historians — who have dedicated their lives to solving the mystery.
“I think people are drawn into theories around Earhart because they want an ending to the story,” Hartigan told The Post. “She was a super famous person. How could such a super famous person disappear? And how can we not know the ending? We need to know the ending to the story.”
Read the rest of my piece for the NY Post here: https://nypost.com/2026/03/08/world-n...
March 5, 2026
This book offers an interesting look not only at the story of Amelia Earhart, but also at the many attempts to locate her and her airplane in the Pacific Ocean. I especially liked the way the chapters alternated between Earhart’s life and background and the details of the various search expeditions. That structure helped the story flow well and kept the narrative engaging.
It’s clear that the book is thoroughly researched, and I appreciated that the author had firsthand experience with some of the search efforts. That perspective added an extra layer of credibility and interest to the story. I did find myself wishing there had been a bit more discussion about the aftermath of Earhart’s disappearance and its longer-term impact, but overall this was an intriguing and informative nonfiction look at the enduring mystery surrounding Amelia Earhart.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
It’s clear that the book is thoroughly researched, and I appreciated that the author had firsthand experience with some of the search efforts. That perspective added an extra layer of credibility and interest to the story. I did find myself wishing there had been a bit more discussion about the aftermath of Earhart’s disappearance and its longer-term impact, but overall this was an intriguing and informative nonfiction look at the enduring mystery surrounding Amelia Earhart.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
March 20, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and National Geographic for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Overall this was a combination biography and story of theories and searches for what happened to Amelia.
The style the author used flowed very well, mixing stories about searches along with biography. I found it overall interesting although parts seemed longer than necessary to establish the point.
For someone interested in the topic, they would probably find this interesting but for the diehards I’m not sure it would add much more than. Wasn’t previously known. Being neither, I still found the book overall enjoyable.
Overall this was a combination biography and story of theories and searches for what happened to Amelia.
The style the author used flowed very well, mixing stories about searches along with biography. I found it overall interesting although parts seemed longer than necessary to establish the point.
For someone interested in the topic, they would probably find this interesting but for the diehards I’m not sure it would add much more than. Wasn’t previously known. Being neither, I still found the book overall enjoyable.
March 14, 2026
Spoiler alert: this is a book about the events leading up to Amelia's disapperance AND simultaneously different rescue and recovery projects (most recent was 2025). This is NOT the story about finding Earhart, but about the long long efforts and questions people have asked and wondered about her life and disapperance.
Overall I loved how well research this was- but I also felt the story jumped around TOO many times for me to really keep track. I wished it was organized a little bit differently. Overall, highly recommend!
A special thank you to NetGalley and to National Geographic (SQUEAL!?!?!) for alloting me an ebook copy of this book.
Overall I loved how well research this was- but I also felt the story jumped around TOO many times for me to really keep track. I wished it was organized a little bit differently. Overall, highly recommend!
A special thank you to NetGalley and to National Geographic (SQUEAL!?!?!) for alloting me an ebook copy of this book.
March 5, 2026
Sure, I would love to know what really happened to Earhart, but this earnest and thorough overview of all main theories and their lives by an involved investigator is the next best thing. Most intriguing to me was the chase after bones
The chase to locate those bones reads like a drama movie.
What is real is Amelia the person that comes through here, and I really don't like to think of her dying slowly without stimulation....
When she was with society we learn there was a feminist push to clear the way for women in aviation and that was a driving impulse for Earhart.
In all this, it seems she was sloppy in not learning More code sufficiently, or some of her (then) modern equipment. This and multiple small errors are a constellation of those most convincing arguments of a rather banal final end.
Also an exciting part here is the large effort to re-create the conditions and see what may have happened.
King hypothesized that after Earhart died, the crabs consumed her flesh and dragged her bones into their burrows— except, of course, the 13 bones Gallagher’s team discovered.
The chase to locate those bones reads like a drama movie.
What is real is Amelia the person that comes through here, and I really don't like to think of her dying slowly without stimulation....
“Oh, if only we can get away soon. It is hard indeed to remains sans books, sans contact with one’s interests and withal on a terrific strain,” Amelia observed.
When she was with society we learn there was a feminist push to clear the way for women in aviation and that was a driving impulse for Earhart.
Amelia had nearly finalized a deal to be the aviation editor for McCall’s magazine, where she’d have a platform from which to extoll on her favorite subject— the wonders, convenience, and practicality of flying as well as the sheer opportunities it offered to women. She was thrilled, though apprehensive, at this new role. But McCall’s wouldn’t permit any member of its staff— especially a high-profile one— to be sullied by a whiff of cigarette smoke. After all, this magazine went into good, middle-class homes across the country. The offer was rescinded before she could begin.
...
For Amelia, talk of opportunities and a satisfying life naturally segued into talk of aviation. “There is need for every kind of talent to advance the business of flying,” a business that would only increase, even with the troubled economy, she argued. “What opportunities lie here for clear thinking, energy, and vision!” But those opportunities must include women, whose progress she said was being blocked by two capital T’s: “One is Training— or lack of it. The other, Tradition. It is a fact that women, because they are women, are denied certain types of training in a number of institutions of learning.” She pointed out that New York University, then the largest university in the country, prevented women from taking aeronautical engineering courses.
...
Amelia had been pushing for women’s rights in other arenas. She refused to give money to Denison House unless she could be certain her donation would be used “for girls in some way.” She’d begun researching how menstruation affected women’s abilities in other physically taxing fields. Men seemed to feel it was exceedingly dangerous for all women to fly during menses. Women themselves knew better: A few women were truly laid low by menstruation, but most women weren’t.
In all this, it seems she was sloppy in not learning More code sufficiently, or some of her (then) modern equipment. This and multiple small errors are a constellation of those most convincing arguments of a rather banal final end.
It took the Longs more than 25 years to publish their conclusion: After a cascade of errors, the Lockheed Electra 10-E ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Howland. In their accounting, nearly everyone involved in the flight made mistakes or had the wrong information. None of these errors were insurmountable individually. Compounded, the Longs argued, they almost inevitably doomed Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. Earhart and Noonan never knew about their first mistake. Indeed, it wasn’t a mistake, just a matter of bad timing. When Earhart radioed the Itasca at 7: 42 a.m. on July 2, 1937, to say, “We must be on you but cannot see you,” she was going by what their charts and Noonan’s dead reckoning was telling her. And she was right to rely on Noonan, who had pioneered Pan American’s commercial routes across the Pacific; few navigators were more experienced than he was in that region of the world. Yet the island wasn’t where he thought it would be. The Itasca had been traveling down to the Line Islands— Howland, Baker 42 miles south, and Jarvis more than 1,000 miles to the east— since 1935, as part of the bid to establish them as U.S. territories. On one trip south from Hawaii, the ship’s navigator surveyed the islands and discovered existing maps put Howland nearly six miles east of where it actually was. (The island had last been charted by the U.S.S. Narragansett in 1872.) The Itasca sent the updated coordinates to Coast Guard headquarters, but an updated chart wasn’t published until June 1937— too late for Noonan to be apprised of the island’s real location. Compounding the error, Noonan made what Long considered a baffling mistake: He assumed his compass presented the actual magnetic heading, without any deviation. Long examined the charts Noonan sent home, which included his calculations. “Whenever it came to deviation, he wrote zero,” said Long. But most compasses on most planes deviate, reacting magnetically to metal objects and electrical currents on board. “There’s no such thing in my navigational experience (and I’ve had a lifetime of it) in those days as a perfect compass,” he explained. He estimated Noonan’s compass was actually off the mark by nearly four degrees— not a big deal for short flights (the Federal Aviation Administration now allows for deviations of up to 10 degrees) but potentially catastrophic in a long flight like theirs. This error may have put the Electra short by another six miles. Add that to the six miles from the incorrect map and Earhart’s “must be on you” was actually 12 miles west of Howland. Meanwhile, a wind blowing at exactly the wrong speed put them even farther off course: The Itasca had reported an easterly wind at four to eight miles an hour. Too weak to create whitecaps on the waves, thought Long, such a breeze would have been invisible to Earhart and Noonan. Noonan would have had no other way to measure wind speed as he had left his drift bomb behind in Lae. This light little wind pushed the Electra another six or so miles west. Now they were some 18 miles west of Howland, beyond visual range in the early morning sunlight. But all wasn’t lost. Unpredictable conditions are a predictable element of any long journey, and Earhart had prepared for them. She knew finding Howland would be one of the trickiest parts of the world flight, and that the smallest error could put them off their course to the island. That’s why she’d established a radio communication plan with the Coast Guard— through their cutter, the Itasca— so they could talk her in if need be. That’s why she’d had a cutting-edge radio direction finder installed on her plane, and why the Itasca was waiting at Howland with its own pair of radio direction finders: a powerful low-frequency model on the ship and a portable high-frequency counterpart on the island. With these backup systems in place, she and Noonan would be able to make a slight course correction and within minutes see the rough runways on Howland Island. Unfortunately, according to the Longs, every one of those backup systems failed. The trouble began early on. Earhart had informed the Itasca she would transmit 15 minutes before and after the hour and listen for their messages on the hour and half hour. The radiomen misunderstood; they were used to keeping to schedules, which to them meant making an appointment with another radio operator to be on the same frequency at a set time. They thought that’s what Earhart would be doing, and assumed they’d be able to communicate back and forth. But Earhart meant what she said. She’d flip on her transmitter to transmit messages at set times and turn on her receiver to listen for messages at others. She didn’t have time to hang out on a frequency waiting to chat. The Itasca had four radio operators whose sole responsibility was managing communications for the ship. The Electra only had Earhart. The discrepancy didn’t register with O’Hare, Bellarts, and their colleagues. When O’Hare demanded why she didn’t keep monitoring her receiver, Long responded with uncharacteristic heat: “She’s flying an airplane. She’s got to keep track of her fuel. She’s marking the engines. She’s navigating. She’s watching her autopilot. She’s doing everything.” “Has she got the cans on her ears?” asked O’Hare. The headphones, he meant. “For 20 hours?” Long replied, his voice rising. “Her ears would fall off, for Christ’s sake.” To Long, who’d flown solo around the world, it was clear: Earhart had to keep to the schedule she described so she could take care of everything else. And there was another big problem with the communication plan— one the Longs called “the simplest of booby traps”: the time zones. Earhart was operating on Greenwich Mean Time (now Coordinated Universal Time or UTC) while the Itasca crew was on Greenwich time plus 11: 30 (one hour behind Hawaiian Standard Time). In other words, the Longs wrote, “Earhart’s ‘on the hour’ was their ‘on the half hour.’” They weren’t transmitting when she was listening for them, and they were when she wasn’t. She never heard them, except once right toward the end. “The half-hour difference? Never gave it a thought,” said O’Hare. In Long’s recording of their interview, the former radio operator’s breath sounds short, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. The one time Earhart did hear them, the Itasca was sending a message on 7,500 kilocycles in Morse code. And therein lies another big error, according to Long: Neither Noonan nor Earhart knew code, but the radiomen on board the ship assumed they did. In their world, everyone who operated a radio knew code. But because she didn’t, she would have turned the switch to off on her receiver for CW— continuous wave Morse code signals. When they transmitted code, all she would have heard was an undecipherable whoosh. But despite the misunderstandings between the Electra and the Itasca, Earhart and Noonan might have landed safely on Howland Island if the cutting-edge technology they were all relying on as the ultimate backup had worked. And in this case, according to the Longs, the failure was not that of the Coast Guard crew— at least not completely— but of Earhart herself. Earhart had originally planned on having a dedicated radio operator on board for the first few legs. But Henry Manning, a ship’s captain as well as an accomplished pilot, navigator, and radio operator who knew Morse code, backed out after Earhart crashed on her first attempt around the world. When the radio direction finder was installed on the plane, Manning had been the one to learn how it worked. When Manning returned to his ship, Earhart received a brief tutorial. But she was too busy to practice using the device, which was so new that it didn’t even come with a manual. Not realizing that low frequencies were crucial to direction finding, she removed the trailing wire that would have made receiving them possible. She never figured out why she couldn’t get the direction finder to work throughout the world flight. The problems with direction finding didn’t end there. If the Electra couldn’t receive signals on 500 kilocycles, it also couldn’t transmit them. The Itasca direction finder was powerful, but only worked at low frequencies; it would not be able to guide the plane in. There was still the high-frequency direction finder loaned to the Itasca for this mission. None of the crew members knew how to operate it. A young radio operator was temporarily transferred from another ship. But he didn’t know how to operate it either. Later, he would claim the batteries had run out, and that’s why he never homed in on Earhart. But when he finally returned to the ship with the direction finder, the wires were “twisted up like a bunch of rats’ tails,” as if the loop had been turned too hard. It was inoperable. And there was one last miscalculation, according to the Longs— one that didn’t prevent Earhart and Noonan from finding the island, but did stop them from searching a little longer. The Electra had less fuel than Earhart realized. The tanks had been filled the day before they left Lae; tropical heat had affected the fuel’s density, effectively reducing the gallons on board from 1,100 to 1,092. “She was in the middle of her last radio message when they went in,” said Long. “I can tie that down pretty good.” Long also thought he had a pretty good idea where the plane went down. Or at least where it didn’t. He calculated that the Electra couldn’t have crashed anywhere within visual range of Howland Island— so nowhere within 20 nautical miles to the north, south, or east. To the west, the visual range shrank to 15 nautical miles because the aviators were flying toward the sun’s glare, which reduced visibility. Knowing what Noonan didn’t know about the charts, his compass, and the wind, and making the standard assumption that dead reckoning is 90 percent accurate, Long calculated that at 8: 43 in the morning on July 2, the plane crashed somewhere within a rectangle 62 miles north and south of Howland, 29 miles to the east, and 41 miles to the west. “If this approximately 2,000-square-nautical-mile area is searched, there is a 90 percent probability that the Electra will be found within it,” he wrote.
...
Why did she opt to use 7,500 as the frequency in the first place? “It’s just not optimal for doing that kind of work,” says Vinson. “You’re supposed to be down around 500 to 1,500 kHz.” He wonders if she misread instructions from her former radio operator Harry Manning, whose handwriting used a Europeanized “1” that could easily be mistaken for a 7.
....
it was a relatively short hop to Darwin, on the northern edge of Australia. When they arrived, a communications officer named Stanley Rose asked why Amelia hadn’t contacted the Darwin direction finding unit, as was mandatory in the country. She admitted she hadn’t been able to use the direction finder since leaving the United States— and apparently hadn’t missed it. Rose got it to work by replacing a fuse. But Amelia’s familiarity with the device she’d be relying on to cross the Pacific hadn’t improved since her brief training with Joe Gurr more than a month earlier in California.
Also an exciting part here is the large effort to re-create the conditions and see what may have happened.
...the vessel would play the role of the Itasca, the Coast Guard cutter that awaited Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan at Howland Island. Some 30 miles to the north at Accomack County Airport, a restored Beechcraft Model 18 plane was being prepared for takeoff in a few hours. It would serve as a stand-in for Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10-E.
August 15, 2025
Lost: Amelia Earhart's Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life by Rachel Hartigan doesn't solve the mystery of what happened to the acclaimed pilot who went missing during the Pacific leg of a transcontinental flight in 1937, but it does provide the reader with two different narratives to tell the story.
The first narrative is a semi-biography of Earhart, which is quite interesting. She grew up with an alcoholic father who could never seem to get his life together, a mother she ended up supporting as she became an adult, and a younger sister who by all accounts worshiped Amelia. Chapters discuss how she became interested in flying and aeronautics, and her many attempts to set various records as the world's leading female pilot. There are a lot of interesting aspects to her life that I had never heard of before, so this part of the book was very interesting to me.
The second narrative deconstructs the three main theories of Earhart's disappearance. These theories will not be recounted here, as they are quire detailed and involve many different time periods, people, and findings that still don't explain the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. The author was involved as part of the investigation of one of these theories funded in part by National Geographic. This section is particularly interesting as the author relates her experience on searching for the plane that carried the pilot or the remains (bones) of the two lost souls.
I learned a lot about Earhart and her family, and the many people who have searched to try and understand what happened. We will probably never know exactly where the plane crashed. Earhart remains a tragic heroine in aviation history, and the mystery of her death will likely continue to spawn new initiatives to find answers.
In terms of rating I give the book 5 stars.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC in exchange for an objective review.
The first narrative is a semi-biography of Earhart, which is quite interesting. She grew up with an alcoholic father who could never seem to get his life together, a mother she ended up supporting as she became an adult, and a younger sister who by all accounts worshiped Amelia. Chapters discuss how she became interested in flying and aeronautics, and her many attempts to set various records as the world's leading female pilot. There are a lot of interesting aspects to her life that I had never heard of before, so this part of the book was very interesting to me.
The second narrative deconstructs the three main theories of Earhart's disappearance. These theories will not be recounted here, as they are quire detailed and involve many different time periods, people, and findings that still don't explain the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. The author was involved as part of the investigation of one of these theories funded in part by National Geographic. This section is particularly interesting as the author relates her experience on searching for the plane that carried the pilot or the remains (bones) of the two lost souls.
I learned a lot about Earhart and her family, and the many people who have searched to try and understand what happened. We will probably never know exactly where the plane crashed. Earhart remains a tragic heroine in aviation history, and the mystery of her death will likely continue to spawn new initiatives to find answers.
In terms of rating I give the book 5 stars.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC in exchange for an objective review.
August 9, 2025
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of Lost. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, National Geographic, for this opportunity.
In Lost, the life and legend of Amelia Earhart are brought vividly to the page in a narrative that balances meticulous historical biography with the suspense and intrigue of one of the world’s most enduring aviation mysteries. Author Rachel Hartigan, a former National Geographic reporter, creates a novel that is both tribute to Earhart’s trailblazing legacy and a deep dive into the decades-long search for her final resting place. In doing so, she is able to expertly craft a book that is both informative and captivating.
Lost paints a rich and nuanced portrait of Earhart as not just as the leather-jacketed aviatrix of popular imagination but as a determined, intelligent, and groundbreaking figure in both aviation and women’s history. From her early days growing up in Kansas to her record-setting flights across oceans and continents, Lost traces Earhart’s journey with detail and clarity. Hartigan avoids hagiography, offering instead a balanced portrayal that highlights both her remarkable achievements and the challenges she faced, personally and professionally.
But Lost doesn’t end with her last takeoff. Instead, it uses that moment—her disappearance over the Pacific in 1937—as a pivot into a gripping exploration of the many missions, theories, and obsessions that have followed. The book chronicles early U.S. Navy search efforts, the rise of the crash-and-sink theory, and more recent technological expeditions involving underwater sonar, satellite analysis, and even bone fragment testing on remote islands like Nikumaroro. It captures the passion (and sometimes the controversy) behind those who have dedicated years or even decades to solving the mystery.
Crucially, Lost neither promises resolution nor falls into sensationalism. It respects the evidence, the limitations of what we know, and the motivations of those still searching. The mystery remains open-ended, but the book gives readers the tools to understand why that mystery has persisted—and why it continues to matter.
In the end, Lost is more than a biography or an investigation; it’s a meditation on legacy, obsession, and the human need to seek closure. Whether you come for the story of Amelia Earhart’s life or stay for the unraveling of her disappearance, you’ll find this book deeply satisfying.
A must-read for history lovers, aviation enthusiasts, and anyone fascinated by real-world mysteries.
In Lost, the life and legend of Amelia Earhart are brought vividly to the page in a narrative that balances meticulous historical biography with the suspense and intrigue of one of the world’s most enduring aviation mysteries. Author Rachel Hartigan, a former National Geographic reporter, creates a novel that is both tribute to Earhart’s trailblazing legacy and a deep dive into the decades-long search for her final resting place. In doing so, she is able to expertly craft a book that is both informative and captivating.
Lost paints a rich and nuanced portrait of Earhart as not just as the leather-jacketed aviatrix of popular imagination but as a determined, intelligent, and groundbreaking figure in both aviation and women’s history. From her early days growing up in Kansas to her record-setting flights across oceans and continents, Lost traces Earhart’s journey with detail and clarity. Hartigan avoids hagiography, offering instead a balanced portrayal that highlights both her remarkable achievements and the challenges she faced, personally and professionally.
But Lost doesn’t end with her last takeoff. Instead, it uses that moment—her disappearance over the Pacific in 1937—as a pivot into a gripping exploration of the many missions, theories, and obsessions that have followed. The book chronicles early U.S. Navy search efforts, the rise of the crash-and-sink theory, and more recent technological expeditions involving underwater sonar, satellite analysis, and even bone fragment testing on remote islands like Nikumaroro. It captures the passion (and sometimes the controversy) behind those who have dedicated years or even decades to solving the mystery.
Crucially, Lost neither promises resolution nor falls into sensationalism. It respects the evidence, the limitations of what we know, and the motivations of those still searching. The mystery remains open-ended, but the book gives readers the tools to understand why that mystery has persisted—and why it continues to matter.
In the end, Lost is more than a biography or an investigation; it’s a meditation on legacy, obsession, and the human need to seek closure. Whether you come for the story of Amelia Earhart’s life or stay for the unraveling of her disappearance, you’ll find this book deeply satisfying.
A must-read for history lovers, aviation enthusiasts, and anyone fascinated by real-world mysteries.
September 17, 2025
88/89 years after Amelia Earhart & her navigator went missing in The Electra, we still have more questions than answers. This trailblazer in aviation & the search for her remains is something known around the world.
The author who represented National Geographic on this 2023 expedition explores any & all possibilities from the past through current times The pages detail not only the gripping flight plan that Earhart took in 1937, but also how much expense & time has been expended trying to solve this mystery.
Amelia Earhart’s name is known around this globe no matter where it takes you & this book will have you referring to your atlas or map apps searching the many countries, islands & bodies of water mentioned.
My Father was a pilot so I grew up hearing about Amelia Earhart, but this particular book discusses the extent that was put into searching from July of 1937 until recently. Amelia Earhart flew to faraway destinations so getting there even now is extremely expensive. If successful in financing a search, once there the terrain or waters prohibit vs assist.
What I did not know & enjoyed learning was more about how Amelia was well-educated and a supporter of the early women’s rights movement in the US. It included her upbringing in Kansas, her marriage/relationships with men & the enormous profit that the flight around the world in 1937 was supposed to net. She went missing, but the financial debt of this endeavor remained with her Husband, George Putnam.
I’ll let the reader find out more, but I live not far from St. Petersburg, Florida. I forgot the very believable girl, Betty Klenck, there (15 years old) who lived a long life & was convinced she had shortwave radio contact with Amelia shortly after she went missing in 1937. I went on a deep dive on the SS Norwich City after that chapter!
The author is currently with National Geographic, but has been an editor with The Washington Post and US News & World Report. Hers is a book that will entertain & educate not only on aviation in its earliest years, but also on how much expense goes into these search party expeditions. While the public may yearn to know, I never weighed how much grief the Families felt when Amelia’s soul is never left at peace.
I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The author who represented National Geographic on this 2023 expedition explores any & all possibilities from the past through current times The pages detail not only the gripping flight plan that Earhart took in 1937, but also how much expense & time has been expended trying to solve this mystery.
Amelia Earhart’s name is known around this globe no matter where it takes you & this book will have you referring to your atlas or map apps searching the many countries, islands & bodies of water mentioned.
My Father was a pilot so I grew up hearing about Amelia Earhart, but this particular book discusses the extent that was put into searching from July of 1937 until recently. Amelia Earhart flew to faraway destinations so getting there even now is extremely expensive. If successful in financing a search, once there the terrain or waters prohibit vs assist.
What I did not know & enjoyed learning was more about how Amelia was well-educated and a supporter of the early women’s rights movement in the US. It included her upbringing in Kansas, her marriage/relationships with men & the enormous profit that the flight around the world in 1937 was supposed to net. She went missing, but the financial debt of this endeavor remained with her Husband, George Putnam.
I’ll let the reader find out more, but I live not far from St. Petersburg, Florida. I forgot the very believable girl, Betty Klenck, there (15 years old) who lived a long life & was convinced she had shortwave radio contact with Amelia shortly after she went missing in 1937. I went on a deep dive on the SS Norwich City after that chapter!
The author is currently with National Geographic, but has been an editor with The Washington Post and US News & World Report. Hers is a book that will entertain & educate not only on aviation in its earliest years, but also on how much expense goes into these search party expeditions. While the public may yearn to know, I never weighed how much grief the Families felt when Amelia’s soul is never left at peace.
I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Rachel Hartigan’s "Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life" is an engaging read with a smooth, conversational narrative that blends Earhart’s remarkable life story with the investigation of her 1937 disappearance.
Hartigan, a former National Geographic reporter, joined two expeditions to the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro with forensic dogs to search for Earhart’s remains. Although she was not an adventurous and bold person, she wanted to discover Earhart’s amazing life with the extraordinary efforts made to uncover how her quest ended and to understand why one woman continues to inspire such determined exploration.
The book traces Earhart’s unstable childhood with an alcoholic father, her early years moving frequently, and her rise to aviation fame shaped in part by the publicity efforts of her husband, publisher George Putnam. It moves between these biographical chapters and detailed accounts of the ongoing efforts to solve her disappearance. Hartigan centers the investigation around three major theories: that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed near Howland Island; that they landed on the remote Nikumaroro Island and survived briefly before dying from injury, dehydration, starvation, or exposure—an idea supported by radio distress calls, scattered artifacts, and later skeletal analysis; and finally, that they reached the Marshall Islands, were captured by Japanese soldiers, and died in custody on Saipan or elsewhere. This theory draws on eyewitness accounts from islanders, alleged intelligence reports, and claims of Earhart’s imprisonment.
"Lost" is an engaging blend of historical biography and scientific exploration that illustrates how Earhart lived and how she may have died. The narrative weaves her incredible life story with the obsessive pursuit of divers, archaeologists, historians, and amateur researchers who continue to investigate her disappearance, often at a great personal cost. Because of incomplete evidence, the mystery continues to captivate the public. Earhart’s story will appeal to readers interested in aviation history, feminism, scientific exploration, and historical mysteries.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy and to Rachel Hartigan for her incredible reporting.
Hartigan, a former National Geographic reporter, joined two expeditions to the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro with forensic dogs to search for Earhart’s remains. Although she was not an adventurous and bold person, she wanted to discover Earhart’s amazing life with the extraordinary efforts made to uncover how her quest ended and to understand why one woman continues to inspire such determined exploration.
The book traces Earhart’s unstable childhood with an alcoholic father, her early years moving frequently, and her rise to aviation fame shaped in part by the publicity efforts of her husband, publisher George Putnam. It moves between these biographical chapters and detailed accounts of the ongoing efforts to solve her disappearance. Hartigan centers the investigation around three major theories: that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed near Howland Island; that they landed on the remote Nikumaroro Island and survived briefly before dying from injury, dehydration, starvation, or exposure—an idea supported by radio distress calls, scattered artifacts, and later skeletal analysis; and finally, that they reached the Marshall Islands, were captured by Japanese soldiers, and died in custody on Saipan or elsewhere. This theory draws on eyewitness accounts from islanders, alleged intelligence reports, and claims of Earhart’s imprisonment.
"Lost" is an engaging blend of historical biography and scientific exploration that illustrates how Earhart lived and how she may have died. The narrative weaves her incredible life story with the obsessive pursuit of divers, archaeologists, historians, and amateur researchers who continue to investigate her disappearance, often at a great personal cost. Because of incomplete evidence, the mystery continues to captivate the public. Earhart’s story will appeal to readers interested in aviation history, feminism, scientific exploration, and historical mysteries.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy and to Rachel Hartigan for her incredible reporting.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
First, a disclaimer: I won this book in a #GoodreadsGiveaway. I want to thank National Geographic Books for the Advance Readers’ Edition (“ARE”). I really enjoyed the book (it was hard to put down) and I recommend reading it.
The book is roughly half biography of Amelia Earhart and half the story of the many attempts to solve the mystery of her disappearance. The chapters alternate between the attempts to solve the mystery and the biography. The biographical part has the essentials, framing Earhart’s life within the context of the time. Within the structure of the book the biography balances well with the stories of the searches for Earhart. I don’t feel like anything is missing in the biography but I am sure a standard biography would flesh it out more. So if you are only interested in a biography, a different book may be for you.
The chapters on the many searches are interesting. They are in three groups: searches related to stories about Amelia Earhart being captured by the Japanese; the possibility of her landing on an island or atoll and living briefly as a castaway; and searches in the ocean on the possibility she went down in the water and had no chance to survive. These are all fascinating. I was not aware of the wide range of purported evidence and theories there are as to what happened to Earhart. The author was on a few of the expeditions giving her first-hand knowledge not available to the lay person. She is not one of the many people fixated on finding the answer preferring to report the facts she finds. This gives her a less biased viewpoint from which to communicate to the lay person. This part of the book feels comprehensive and I am especially glad to have read it to understand range of possibilities and the prospects each avenue of research has found. This information completes the biography in a way that a standard biography couldn’t.
Note – on non-fiction I would usually include comments on the quality of pictures, maps and maybe even note the index but since this is an ARE, the color insert is not included and the index is a place holder. But on the strength of NatGeo’s reputation, I believe the quality will be consistent.
I won this book in a #GoodreadsGiveaway. This is a voluntary and honest review.
The book is roughly half biography of Amelia Earhart and half the story of the many attempts to solve the mystery of her disappearance. The chapters alternate between the attempts to solve the mystery and the biography. The biographical part has the essentials, framing Earhart’s life within the context of the time. Within the structure of the book the biography balances well with the stories of the searches for Earhart. I don’t feel like anything is missing in the biography but I am sure a standard biography would flesh it out more. So if you are only interested in a biography, a different book may be for you.
The chapters on the many searches are interesting. They are in three groups: searches related to stories about Amelia Earhart being captured by the Japanese; the possibility of her landing on an island or atoll and living briefly as a castaway; and searches in the ocean on the possibility she went down in the water and had no chance to survive. These are all fascinating. I was not aware of the wide range of purported evidence and theories there are as to what happened to Earhart. The author was on a few of the expeditions giving her first-hand knowledge not available to the lay person. She is not one of the many people fixated on finding the answer preferring to report the facts she finds. This gives her a less biased viewpoint from which to communicate to the lay person. This part of the book feels comprehensive and I am especially glad to have read it to understand range of possibilities and the prospects each avenue of research has found. This information completes the biography in a way that a standard biography couldn’t.
Note – on non-fiction I would usually include comments on the quality of pictures, maps and maybe even note the index but since this is an ARE, the color insert is not included and the index is a place holder. But on the strength of NatGeo’s reputation, I believe the quality will be consistent.
I won this book in a #GoodreadsGiveaway. This is a voluntary and honest review.
March 2, 2026
I remember being obsessed with the disappearance of Amelia Earhart when I was younger. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic alone and the first pilot to fly alone from Hawaii to California. Then suddenly in 1937, she and navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing while flying around the world. They’d already completed 22k miles and only had 7k left. They were on their way to Howland Island from Papua, New Guinea but they were never seen again and neither was Earhart’s Lockheed Electra plane.
The book opens in 2017 with the author,
Rachel Hartigan, heading to the island of Nikumaroro just shy of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean. She’s part of an expedition that includes two archaeologists, and four border collies and their handlers in the hopes of finding Amelia Earhart’s remains. Hartigan writes an incredibly detailed book alternating chapters describing Amelia’s life and the three biggest theories of what happened to her.
It’s fascinating how Hartigan breaks down each theory and if it holds any weight. She begins with the idea that Earhart was captured by the Japanese delving into eyewitness accounts and issues with credibility. Next, is the theory that she became stranded on Nikumaroro and the exhaustive search to find her bones. Lastly, the most obvious, that the plane crashed in the Pacific and the search for the Electra on the bottom of the ocean.
But it’s the biographical part of Amelia’s life that is truly special. Hartigan humanizes her. Interviews and excerpts from family members puts all the conspiracy theories into perspective. As much as explorers want answers to one of the world’s most famous disappearances, what cost is that to the families and descendants of Earhart and Noonan? It’s a wound continuously reopened by outlandish conspiracies and thoughtful theories. At almost 90 years, they may never be found but it certainly isn’t for lack of trying.
Thank you to National Geographic for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book opens in 2017 with the author,
Rachel Hartigan, heading to the island of Nikumaroro just shy of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean. She’s part of an expedition that includes two archaeologists, and four border collies and their handlers in the hopes of finding Amelia Earhart’s remains. Hartigan writes an incredibly detailed book alternating chapters describing Amelia’s life and the three biggest theories of what happened to her.
It’s fascinating how Hartigan breaks down each theory and if it holds any weight. She begins with the idea that Earhart was captured by the Japanese delving into eyewitness accounts and issues with credibility. Next, is the theory that she became stranded on Nikumaroro and the exhaustive search to find her bones. Lastly, the most obvious, that the plane crashed in the Pacific and the search for the Electra on the bottom of the ocean.
But it’s the biographical part of Amelia’s life that is truly special. Hartigan humanizes her. Interviews and excerpts from family members puts all the conspiracy theories into perspective. As much as explorers want answers to one of the world’s most famous disappearances, what cost is that to the families and descendants of Earhart and Noonan? It’s a wound continuously reopened by outlandish conspiracies and thoughtful theories. At almost 90 years, they may never be found but it certainly isn’t for lack of trying.
Thank you to National Geographic for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 9, 2026
Highly recommended!
I’m an Amelia Earhart devotee. So much so that I visited her birthplace and hangar museums in Kansas and plan to visit her archives at Purdue University this summer. What I am not, is a conspiracy theorist. In fact, the most effort I’ve put into thinking about her end of life is to simply assume she and navigator Fred Noonan ran out of fuel and plunged into the ocean.
But along comes acclaimed journalist Rachel Hartigan with Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life, and a deep dive into her life and the three most popular theories of her disappearance. I raced to my local B&N and picked up a copy.
Chapters alternate between AE’s biography and the three theories: were they captured by the Japanese, did they land on an uninhabited island, or did they simply run out of fuel and crash into the ocean? The result is a brilliant, up-to-date analysis, which provides the reader with enough facts and logic to dispel some of the outlandish claims made over the years. If you are also an AE devotee, be forewarned, because some of the details will break your heart.
Another feature of Hartigan’s creative non-fiction that I appreciate is reminding us that science has much to say about the trickiness of memory and the “‘psychological motives’ that draw people to conspiracy theories.” Can you imagine how many more theories if AE had disappeared in 2026 instead of 1937?
If you are interested in reading a page-turning, mystery-“solving”, historical account of one of the world’s most amazing women, get a copy of Hartigan’s Lost from your public library or an independent bookstore.
By the way, did I mention that I am confident this will be my best read of 2026??
I’m an Amelia Earhart devotee. So much so that I visited her birthplace and hangar museums in Kansas and plan to visit her archives at Purdue University this summer. What I am not, is a conspiracy theorist. In fact, the most effort I’ve put into thinking about her end of life is to simply assume she and navigator Fred Noonan ran out of fuel and plunged into the ocean.
But along comes acclaimed journalist Rachel Hartigan with Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life, and a deep dive into her life and the three most popular theories of her disappearance. I raced to my local B&N and picked up a copy.
Chapters alternate between AE’s biography and the three theories: were they captured by the Japanese, did they land on an uninhabited island, or did they simply run out of fuel and crash into the ocean? The result is a brilliant, up-to-date analysis, which provides the reader with enough facts and logic to dispel some of the outlandish claims made over the years. If you are also an AE devotee, be forewarned, because some of the details will break your heart.
Another feature of Hartigan’s creative non-fiction that I appreciate is reminding us that science has much to say about the trickiness of memory and the “‘psychological motives’ that draw people to conspiracy theories.” Can you imagine how many more theories if AE had disappeared in 2026 instead of 1937?
If you are interested in reading a page-turning, mystery-“solving”, historical account of one of the world’s most amazing women, get a copy of Hartigan’s Lost from your public library or an independent bookstore.
By the way, did I mention that I am confident this will be my best read of 2026??
March 3, 2026
I've been interested in Amelia Earhart since childhood, as so many of us are, and really enjoyed this book that followed both her life and the various theories about her death. The book switched between timelines each chapter, telling Amelia's life story in a linear way and then giving us the different theories about her disappearance using more of a topic-by-topic approach. Well-researched but also well-lived, as the author went on some of the research expeditions as part of the National Geographic crew, this book was incredibly readable.
There are very few answers here, as you would expect, but it's a pretty comprehensive summation of the attempts over the decades to uncover what really happened on her last flight. More than that, though, it did a nice job explaining who Amelia was outside of the disappearance: a pioneer with a genuine desire to broaden the spheres of access for women, a clever and brave woman who changed her own path several times in order to follow her dreams, a reluctant wife with practical reasons for marrying. I appreciated the way the author used Amelia's own words in key places, as that really reinforced the story she was telling (one of my favorites: "I loathe watching men. Why can't they be more responsible?").
Overall, a solid 4 stars that never veered too hard into the technical and made Amelia come alive as a real person, faults and all.
Thanks to netgalley and National Geographic for the chance to read and review!
There are very few answers here, as you would expect, but it's a pretty comprehensive summation of the attempts over the decades to uncover what really happened on her last flight. More than that, though, it did a nice job explaining who Amelia was outside of the disappearance: a pioneer with a genuine desire to broaden the spheres of access for women, a clever and brave woman who changed her own path several times in order to follow her dreams, a reluctant wife with practical reasons for marrying. I appreciated the way the author used Amelia's own words in key places, as that really reinforced the story she was telling (one of my favorites: "I loathe watching men. Why can't they be more responsible?").
Overall, a solid 4 stars that never veered too hard into the technical and made Amelia come alive as a real person, faults and all.
Thanks to netgalley and National Geographic for the chance to read and review!
March 8, 2026
While casually interested in Earhart's life, I can't say that I've ever been particularly interested in the whereabouts of her plane. I would see the headlines each time someone else claimed to have found it, say, "yeah, ok, whatever," and move on, unsurprised when none of those announcements resulted in an actual plane. This book combines both--the story of Earhart's life intertwined with the stories of multiple searches to discover where it ended. Each of the searches were impressive in their methodologies and dedication, even if ultimately unsuccessful (so far.) Unfortunately, the ocean is a big place, even if a theory is sound. I especially enjoyed the mathematical theories about how Noonan may have incorrectly calculated their position and where that would have taken the plane instead, as well as the theories about how communication misunderstandings may have contributed to the failure. Perhaps most flabbergasting was the revelation about the distance finder and the casual disregard with which it was treated--even given the new technology, it just seems the height of arrogance to take off without understanding what's required to make it work. Hartigan also throws in a few of the conspiracy theories that people have come up with over the years; all I can do is marvel at the idiocy that mankind is capable of inventing. All in all, the stories were interesting, even if the delivery was overly dry at times.
I received this ARC from NetGalley.
I received this ARC from NetGalley.
September 17, 2025
Thanks for the ARC!! I didn't know all that much about Amelia Earhart outside of the big picture mystery before reading the book, and that there's a statue of her in North Hollywood. I enjoyed reading it, and learned quite a bit about both Earhart, and early aviation, which was interesting, although by the end it felt a bit light as a biography and a bit uncritical as an examination of the theories surrounding her disappearance. Overall as the biography didn't feel like much more than surface level facts and events, I would have preferred less of it, or a more in depth examination of her life as it lead up to her disappearance. As for the theories to what went wrong, I found myself thinking, that's interesting, but what do other experts in this area think? Surely when talking about an experiment involving radio transmission strength, there's other engineers available to establish that this is either a good test that will reveal meaningful data, or a fun exercise in restoring old equipment that doesn't mean much. Especially since none of the theories actually pan out to meaningful finds, and they're all making huge assumptions, it would have been interesting to have other experts weigh in on holes in the logic, and how reasonable the assumptions being made are. All that said I'm glad I read it, and know more about the topic, so four stars!
January 6, 2026
Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life
by Rachel Hartigan
Publisher: National Geographic
Lost is divided into two main sections. One part follows the ongoing scientific efforts to locate Amelia Earhart’s missing plane, detailing the expeditions, research methods, and evidence that investigators have pursued over the years. The other part focuses on Earhart’s life, tracing her career as an aviator and placing her achievements within the broader history of early aviation. Together, these sections give readers both historical background and an overview of how modern researchers continue to approach the disappearance.
I felt much more engaged with the biographical portions of the book than with the search narrative. I noticed that learning about Earhart’s life, accomplishments, and the challenges she faced as a woman in aviation held my attention more than the technical details of the expeditions. While the sections on the scientific searches were informative, I felt the biography gave the book its strongest and most meaningful moments. Overall, I would recommend this book to readers interested in aviation history, historical biography, and early twentieth-century figures, particularly those who appreciate a factual, research-based approach rather than speculation.
Thanks to NetGalley and National Geographic for providing an advance copy.
by Rachel Hartigan
Publisher: National Geographic
Lost is divided into two main sections. One part follows the ongoing scientific efforts to locate Amelia Earhart’s missing plane, detailing the expeditions, research methods, and evidence that investigators have pursued over the years. The other part focuses on Earhart’s life, tracing her career as an aviator and placing her achievements within the broader history of early aviation. Together, these sections give readers both historical background and an overview of how modern researchers continue to approach the disappearance.
I felt much more engaged with the biographical portions of the book than with the search narrative. I noticed that learning about Earhart’s life, accomplishments, and the challenges she faced as a woman in aviation held my attention more than the technical details of the expeditions. While the sections on the scientific searches were informative, I felt the biography gave the book its strongest and most meaningful moments. Overall, I would recommend this book to readers interested in aviation history, historical biography, and early twentieth-century figures, particularly those who appreciate a factual, research-based approach rather than speculation.
Thanks to NetGalley and National Geographic for providing an advance copy.
February 13, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
This was very information heavy on the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Each theory or conspiracy has been heavily researched and analyzed to be refuted.
This book alternates from attempts at locating the plane and providing the backstory to Amelia, her life, and her success as a female pilot. We learn so much about Amelia's motivations and who she was as a person.
I enjoyed learning about her life and not just her last flight. We are provided with a timeline of events that made Amelia who she was. As I mentioned, it is VERY information heavy and can be daunting to read. There was times I lost motivation to continue. Nevertheless, this is a great book if you're interested in the theories and wanting more information.
I appreciate that this was completely factual and no assumptions were provided. It is wild to know that of all the theories and expeditions, there is no tangible proof of her whereabouts. We will likely never really know what actually happened on that flight. It is something that will forever make me wonder. We have all this technology and we are still left in the dark.
I'd recommend this book to the aviation enthusiasts or individuals with a thirst for knowledge. While most books scratch the surface, this one gives you plenty of information to digest.
This was very information heavy on the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Each theory or conspiracy has been heavily researched and analyzed to be refuted.
This book alternates from attempts at locating the plane and providing the backstory to Amelia, her life, and her success as a female pilot. We learn so much about Amelia's motivations and who she was as a person.
I enjoyed learning about her life and not just her last flight. We are provided with a timeline of events that made Amelia who she was. As I mentioned, it is VERY information heavy and can be daunting to read. There was times I lost motivation to continue. Nevertheless, this is a great book if you're interested in the theories and wanting more information.
I appreciate that this was completely factual and no assumptions were provided. It is wild to know that of all the theories and expeditions, there is no tangible proof of her whereabouts. We will likely never really know what actually happened on that flight. It is something that will forever make me wonder. We have all this technology and we are still left in the dark.
I'd recommend this book to the aviation enthusiasts or individuals with a thirst for knowledge. While most books scratch the surface, this one gives you plenty of information to digest.
March 7, 2026
Lost: Amelia Earhart’s Three Mysterious Deaths and One Extraordinary Life is a well-written reflection on not only Amelia’s journey to becoming a pilot and the pinnacles she reached, but the myriad of investigations that have taken place over the course of the last century. While I was cursorily aware of who Earhart was and the accomplishments she achieved, I knew few details. Therefore, as a layperson so to speak, Rachel Hartigan’s work was not only incredibly informative, but also sparked my own interest in the history of aviation (given my Ohio roots and its role in all things aviation and aerospace, this is somewhat to be expected).
That said, the narrative chapters about Earhart’s life were much easier to read and follow than the chapters that focused on the investigations, theories, and anecdotes of her posthumous legacy. In my opinion, some knowledge of the technology utilized in aviation would alleviate any confusion one may have in keeping up with the descriptions that were provided of Earhart’s flights. However, perhaps that is just an effect of my desire to understand every detail of the books I read.
Whether one is a flying enthusiast or simply someone who likewise wishes to learn more about an early pioneer in our history, Hartigan’s Lost is a very worthwhile read.
Thank you to National Geographic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!
That said, the narrative chapters about Earhart’s life were much easier to read and follow than the chapters that focused on the investigations, theories, and anecdotes of her posthumous legacy. In my opinion, some knowledge of the technology utilized in aviation would alleviate any confusion one may have in keeping up with the descriptions that were provided of Earhart’s flights. However, perhaps that is just an effect of my desire to understand every detail of the books I read.
Whether one is a flying enthusiast or simply someone who likewise wishes to learn more about an early pioneer in our history, Hartigan’s Lost is a very worthwhile read.
Thank you to National Geographic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!
March 21, 2026
🔥 Kemo-IPTV.pro IPTV Subscription Services
Premium Entertainment for the UK, USA, Canada & Global Viewers 🌍
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🔗 Websites:
https://kemo-iptv.pro
Kemo-IP-TV.com
iptv-total.live
https://kemoiptv-tv.us
pandora-iptv.org
https://tenet-streams.com
Additional IPTV Resources
https://norwaytv.net
https://iptvdiamond.cc
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🔥🔥 Software-Hub.us – Secure, Genuine & Subscription-Free Software 🔥🔥
💎 Lifetime Software Licenses at Outstanding Value 💎
Welcome to Software-Hub.us, a reliable online platform offering premium software solutions at competitive prices ✨💻.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🔥 ebook-hub.us – Advancing Lifelong Learning Through Digital Books 🔥
Our platform is designed to provide:
📚 Well-organized and structured digital knowledge
🔥 Carefully curated, high-quality content
🌐 Global access anytime, from anywhere
📲 Smooth compatibility across multiple devices
⚙️ Reliable and scalable digital infrastructure
Premium Entertainment for the UK, USA, Canada & Global Viewers 🌍
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🔗 Websites:
https://kemo-iptv.pro
Kemo-IP-TV.com
iptv-total.live
https://kemoiptv-tv.us
pandora-iptv.org
https://tenet-streams.com
Additional IPTV Resources
https://norwaytv.net
https://iptvdiamond.cc
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🔥🔥 Software-Hub.us – Secure, Genuine & Subscription-Free Software 🔥🔥
💎 Lifetime Software Licenses at Outstanding Value 💎
Welcome to Software-Hub.us, a reliable online platform offering premium software solutions at competitive prices ✨💻.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🔥 ebook-hub.us – Advancing Lifelong Learning Through Digital Books 🔥
Our platform is designed to provide:
📚 Well-organized and structured digital knowledge
🔥 Carefully curated, high-quality content
🌐 Global access anytime, from anywhere
📲 Smooth compatibility across multiple devices
⚙️ Reliable and scalable digital infrastructure
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for inviting me to read and review this book. The narration goes back and forth between Amelia's upbringing and her love of flying after she was an adult, and the events that led up to that final presumably-fatal flight. . There are copious details about her life and her career (if one could call it that) in aviation, in an era when women were not given a lot of opportunities. Spoiler alert: Although there are posts all over social media claiming that she and her plane have been found, according to this well-researched book, Amelia and her plane have NOT been found. If she had been found, it would be all over the news. I gave this book 4 stars rather than 5 because the actual process of reading it was a bit challenging. There were multiple pages where several words run together with no spaces between. Also, my Kindle app kept freezing, and every few page I had to close the app and reopen it. This was of course not the author's or publisher's fault. I would certainly recommend this book to history lovers, especially those who are fascinated by the Amelia Earhart story.
February 25, 2026
I don't often find myself describing nonfiction works as "bingeable" but that's exactly what this book is.
I'd consider myself generally unfamiliar with Amelia Earhart's story beyond what most know - aviation pioneer who disappeared during a flight. I found this book to be a fascinating deep dive into her whole life story & the leading theories about her disappearance. I appreciated the way that the author interspersed the story of her life around the accounts of the investigations into her disappearance; it felt to me like a continuous grounding in the fact that she was a real person with real family and friends, trials and tribulations, successes, goals, and missteps to keep from sensationalizing her story down to just her final days.
The accounts of the 3 major investigations - captured, castaway, and sank - provide riveting accounts of how people find their way into trying to solve Earhart's disappearance, the clues and evidence they uncover to support their theories, and the ongoing pushes to use modern technologies to ascertain exactly what happened to her.
All in all, this was a gripping read that feels like fiction while teaching plenty.
I'd consider myself generally unfamiliar with Amelia Earhart's story beyond what most know - aviation pioneer who disappeared during a flight. I found this book to be a fascinating deep dive into her whole life story & the leading theories about her disappearance. I appreciated the way that the author interspersed the story of her life around the accounts of the investigations into her disappearance; it felt to me like a continuous grounding in the fact that she was a real person with real family and friends, trials and tribulations, successes, goals, and missteps to keep from sensationalizing her story down to just her final days.
The accounts of the 3 major investigations - captured, castaway, and sank - provide riveting accounts of how people find their way into trying to solve Earhart's disappearance, the clues and evidence they uncover to support their theories, and the ongoing pushes to use modern technologies to ascertain exactly what happened to her.
All in all, this was a gripping read that feels like fiction while teaching plenty.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews