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Into Thin Air

Release on 1998-11-12 | by Jon Krakauer

By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event.

Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 9780679462712
Category: Travel
Page: 320
View: 443

Into Thin Air

National Bestseller A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."

Language: en
Pages: 320

Into Thin Air

Authors: Jon Krakauer

Categories: Travel

Type: BOOK - Published: 1998-11-12 - Publisher: Anchor

Language: en
Pages: 336

Into Thin Air

Authors: Cindy Miles

Categories: Fiction

Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-11-06 - Publisher: Penguin

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

Language: en
Pages: 134

Into Thin Air

Authors: Jerry S. Kidd, Renee A. Kidd

Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction

Type: BOOK - Published: 1998 - Publisher: Facts on File

This text examines the causes of atmospheric pollution, acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming and explains how these conditions affect our health and econo prosperity.

Language: en
Pages: 138

Vanished Into Thin Air

Authors: Matthew D. Bliss

Categories: Fiction

Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-02 - Publisher: Publishamerica Incorporated

On October 31, 1905, the steamer Erie Dane departs Detroit with 114 passengers and crew. As the ship steams across Lake Erie, a storm that only occurs once a century descends upon the lake and the ship disappears. One century later on October 31, 2005, three college friends depart Sandusky