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 trade paperback 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.
