Shangri-La is a mythical valley of peace and happiness, located somewhere at the western edge of the Himalaya mountains, that was first described by British author James Hilton in his hugely popular 1933 novel Lost Horizon. The book follows how its protagonist, British diplomat Hugh Conway, finds inner peace and a sense of purpose in life after his plane crash-lands in a harmonious valley presided over by a benevolent lamasery. It is likely that Hilton drew inspiration for his Shangri-La from Shambhala, a mythical city in Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Since Hilton's novel, the phrase "my Shangri-La" has come to mean a person's place or situation of greatest happiness in life. Several places have been proposed as the site of the "real" Shangri-La, including various valleys in western China, eastern Afghanistan, and northern Pakistan. The truth, however, is that Hilton simply made it up.
"Shangri-La" took on special meaning to Americans during World War II. Following the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo by American bombers launched from the deck of an aircraft carrier, President Roosevelt refused to reveal how the bombing was achieved, saying only that the bombers were launched from "Shangri-La" and causing widespread speculation where exactly this "Shangri-La" was. Later, Roosevelt named his Presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland "Shangri-La," the name it bore until President Eisenhower renamed it Camp David after his grandson, and eventually the US Navy christened an aircraft carrier the USS Shangri-La, so that attacks on Japan really could come from "Shangri-La."