The Man Who Fell From the Sky: The true story of the gaudy life and bizarre demise of '20s tycoon Alfred Loewenstein- and the modern-day quest to solve the tantalizing mystery of his death, by William Norris (HC, 1987, $2.50)
This is one heck of a story. I meant only to blog about it, but then ended up reading the whole book. Loewenstein was one of the most powerful and rich industrialists of Europe. He had always been a flamboyant risk taker, but when he started losing money he became even more so.
On July 4th, 1928 he got on a plane with five others to go to Brussels. Somewhere over the English Channel he went into the plane's bathroom, vanished, and no one could figure out how or why. Was it suicide, an accident, or was it murder? Since he had disappeared over international waters, the French decided it was not their problem. The Belgians eventually decided the same thing. So did the British.
His body would eventually be found in the ocean by fishermen. He was buried in Brussels. No one came to the funeral, not even his wife. His grave would never get a tombstone.
Is this not the strangest tale? Look for this book on the new non-fiction table.(Avail. 9/7) Have fun!
