Savage Harvest: A tale of cannibals, colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's tragic quest for primitive art by Carl Hoffman

Before I read a review of this book in the St. Louis Post Dispatch I had never heard of Michael Rockefeller or of his mysterious disappearance!  Rockefeller (yes, one of those Rockefellers!) graduated from Harvard and decided to travel to New Guinea to collect primitive art for his father's new museum, On November 17, 1961 he and a Dutch anthropologist were stranded at sea, without a radio, while traveling by boat to a remote area of the region, .  Rockefeller decided to try to swim to shore and was never seen again. At the same time, the Netherlands was battling Indonesia in the U.N. for control of the territory.  Hoffman carefully constructs the case that the Dutch authorities covered up Michael Rockefeller's death because it would have damaged their claim to the U.N. that New Guinea was a civilized region under their control.  A fascinating look at what happens when a primitive culture is misunderstood. 322 pages.