From Publishers Weekly
After graduating from Emory
University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher
McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings
account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in
the wilderness. Four months later, he turned up dead. His diary,
letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate
effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly
starving. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man,
raised in affluent Annandale, Va., who self-consciously adopted a
Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. Krakauer, a
contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless's
ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace
engineer. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful
exploit in 1977 when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the
Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion
against his autocratic father. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes
the mystery of McCandless's death, which he attributes to logistical
blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods. Maps.
35,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In April 1992,
23-year-old Chris McCandless hiked into the Alaska bush to "live off
the land." Four months later, hunters found his emaciated corpse in an
abandoned Fairbanks city bus, along with five rolls of film, an SOS
note, and a diary written in a field guide to edible plants. Cut off
from civilization, McCandless had starved to death. The young man's
gruesome demise made headlines and haunted Outside magazine
contributing editor Krakauer, who saw "vague, unsettling parallels"
between McCandless's life and his own. Expanding on his 1993 Outside
article, Krakauer traces McCandless's last two years; after his
graduation from Emory University, McCandless abandoned his middle-class
family, identity, and possessions in favor of the life of "Alexander
Supertramp," wandering the American West in search of "raw,
transcendent experience." In trying to understand McCandless's behavior
and the appeal that risky activities hold for young men, Krakauer
examines his own adventurous youth. However, he never satisfactorily
answers the question of whether McCandless was a noble, if misguided,
idealist or a reckless narcissist who brought pain to his family. For
popular outdoor and adventure collections.
--Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Some Alaskans reacted contemptuously to Krakauer's magazine article
about a young man who starved to death one summer in the shadow of
Denali. Chris McCandless was an idealistic fool, they said. He didn't
equip himself properly, couldn't tell moose from caribou, didn't know
Alaskan rivers become unfordable torrents in the summer melt: hubristic
ignorance dictated his fate. Such acid responses won't greet this
book-length expansion of the article, a drama constructed deftly enough
to earn a place in the canon of American nature writing. First, there
is mystery: the emaciated body found in September 1992 in a bus-hut had
no identity papers, just a name and a terse diary of final days. Then
there is the question of personal identity: What existential longing
led the twentysomething McCandless to that bus and at what cost to
himself and his family? And finally, there is the majestic stage set of
the American Far West, which Krakauer draws on to create his lyrical,
mesmerizing testament to McCandless' odyssey. Krakauer starts with the
discovery of McCandless' body and works backward, revealing that
McCandless graduated from Emory University, severed contact with his
family, assumed the alias "Alexander Supertramp," and began two years
of vagabondage in search of Truth in living as advocated by Thoreau and
Tolstoy, of whose works "Alex" was enamored. His earnestness indelibly
impressed the itinerants he easily befriended--whom he, in truth,
somewhat callously jettisoned--as Krakauer reveals throughout this
sensitive narrative. A moving story that reiterates the bewitching
attraction of the Far West. Gilbert Taylor
Review
"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama of human yearning."-"New York Times"
"A
narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to
face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping
stuff."-"Washington Post"
"Compelling and tragic. . .Hard to put down."-"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Engrossing.
. .with a telling eye for detail, Krakauer has captured the sad saga of
a stubborn, idealistic young man"-"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"It may be nonfiction, but "Into the Wild" is a mystery of the highest order."-"Entertainment Weekly"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Terrifying. . . . Eloquent. . . . A heart-rending drama of human yearning.” —The New York Times
“A
narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to
face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It’s gripping
stuff.” —The Washington Post
“Haunting . . . few outdoors writers of the day can match Krakauer for bringing outside adventure to life on the page.” —Portland Oregonian
“Engrossing . . . with a telling eye for detail, Krakauer has captured the sad saga of a stubborn, idealistic young man.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“It may be nonfiction but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Sensational.
. . . [Krakauer] is such a good reporter that we come as close as we
probably ever can to another person’s heart and soul.” —Men’s Journal
Product Description
In April 1992 a young man
from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the
wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson
McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his
car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and
invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body
was found by a moose hunter....
From the Publisher
"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama of human yearning."
--New York Times "A
narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to
face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping
stuff."
--Washington Post "Compelling and tragic...Hard to put down."
--San Francisco Chronicle "Engrossing...with a telling eye for detail, Krakauer has captured the sad saga of a stubborn, idealistic young man."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review "It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order."
--Entertainment Weekly
From the Inside Flap
In April 1992 a young
man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into
the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson
McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his
car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and
invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body
was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the
unforgettable story of Into the Wild.
Immediately
after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through
the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes
Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car,
stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would
give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and , unencumbered by
money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered
experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map,
McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate
parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
Jon Krakauer
constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the
disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interst that
borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the dries and
desires that propelled McCandless. Digging deeply, he takes an
inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds:
the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the
allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind;
the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.
When
McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal,
he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his
naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish
but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to
look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising
pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity , and
renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a
rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Mesmerizing,
heartbreaking, Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
About the Author
Jon Krakauer is the author of Under the Banner of Heaven, Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Into Thin Air and is editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.
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