The Earhart Enigma

Book excerpt: Florida Book Awards Silver Medal Winner: New answers to one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century. What really happened to Amelia Earhart? Since Earhart and her navigator disappeared during their around-the-world flight attempt in 1937, the world has searched in vain for an answer to this question. The culmination of thirteen years of research into this tantalizing mystery, The Earhart Enigma brings to life Earhart’s final days in an attempt to reconstruct what exactly took place. Offering candid assessments of prevailing theories about Earhart’s fate, Dave Horner marshals evidence from a variety of sources, proving that Earhart was neither lost at sea nor wrecked on Nikumaroro, where many search expeditions have failed to deliver concrete results. Integrating information garnered from numerous interviews, Pacific Islander folklore, and US and Japanese military documents, Horner argues instead that Earhart ventured north of her intended destination in search of a place to land her Lockheed Electra. Blending drama, mystery, and shocking revelations with the steady balance of an objective investigator, Horner’s findings provide a definitive answer to this fascinating riddle, based on firsthand accounts from Marshall Islanders and other powerful evidence.