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Overview
Overview
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 naivet , 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.
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Krakauer, Jon
- ISBN: 9780385486804
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 8.00 x 0.60
- Number Of Pages: 240
- Publication Year: 1997
Customer Reviews
Rating Snapshot
5 ★
71%
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7 Ratings
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0 Recommendations
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Be Prepared!
Andrea C. - 4 years 11 months agoInteresting story - I like that this shows the importance of being prepared and the affects you have on others. This man was a bit short sighted and doubtfully realized the pain he was causing loved ones that he was taking for granted.
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Well-written, adventure, tracking-life
Lillian G. - 5 years 5 months agoThis is a harder book to read. It is very well written. It is a nonfiction book about a man that dropped everything to travel. The book is not told in his perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a higher reading level and anyone that likes some adventure. #SpringPicks.
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It’s accurate
Spencer P. - 6 years 1 month agoI thought the author went down the rabbit hole on the fools that lost their way.
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One of the best true stories out there. Krakauer's account of Chris McCandless's life is compelling.
Lauren G. - 6 years 3 months agoA fascinating account of what happens when one young man decides to "denounce" his family and his family's money to find his own way in life. His journey to find himself is something we've all thought about doing -- setting off on an adventure to figure it all out. The life of Chris McCandless is fascinating, sad, inspiring, and surprisingly enviable at times. Jon Krakauer captures Chris's life in full color.
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A classic read.
Scott M. - 6 years 4 months agoA classic read. Having just returned from a two week Alaska trip, I had to reread "Into the Wild". I now more than ever appreciate Krakauer's gift of adventure writing.