Eiger Dreams Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains (1990) is a
nonfiction collection of
articles and
essays by Jon Krakauer on
mountaineering and
rock climbing. It concerns a variety of topics, from ascending the
Eiger Nordwand in the
Swiss Alps,
Denali in
Alaska or
K2 in the
Karakoram, to the well-known
rock climbers Krakauer has met on his trips, such as
John Gill.
Into the Wild Into the Wild was published in 1996 and spent two years on
The New York Times Best Seller List. The book employs a non-linear narrative that documents the travels of
Christopher McCandless, a young man from a well-to-do
East Coast family who, in 1990, after graduating from
Emory University, donated all of the money ($24,000) in his bank account to the humanitarian charity
Oxfam, renamed himself "Alexander Supertramp", and began a journey in the
American West. McCandless' remains were found in September 1992; he had died of starvation in
Alaska on the
Stampede Trail. In the book, Krakauer draws parallels between McCandless' experiences and his own, and the experiences of other adventurers.
Into The Wild was adapted into a
film of the same name, which was released on September 21, 2007.
Into Thin Air In 1997, Krakauer expanded his September 1996
Outside article into
Into Thin Air. The book describes the climbing parties' experiences and the general state of Everest
mountaineering at the time. Hired as a journalist by the magazine, Krakauer had participated as a client of the 1996 Everest climbing team led by Rob Hall—the team which ended up suffering the greatest casualties in the
1996 Mount Everest disaster. The book reached the top of
The New York Times' nonfiction
bestseller list, was honored as "Book of the Year" by
Time magazine, and was among three books considered for the
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1998. The
American Academy of Arts and Letters gave Krakauer an Academy Award in Literature in 1999 for his work, commenting that the writer "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." Krakauer has contributed royalties from this book to the Everest '96 Memorial Fund at the Boulder Community Foundation, which he founded as a tribute to his deceased climbing partners. In a
TV-movie version of the book, Krakauer was played by
Christopher McDonald.
Everest, a feature film based on the events of the disaster directed by
Baltasar Kormákur, was released in 2015. In the film, Krakauer is portrayed by
Michael Kelly. Krakauer denounced the movie, saying some of its details were fabricated and defamatory. He also expressed regret regarding Sony's rapid acquisition of the rights to the book. Director
Baltasar Kormákur responded, claiming Krakauer's first-person account was not used as source material for the film. In the book, Krakauer noted that Russian-Kazakhstani guide
Anatoli Boukreev, Scott Fischer's top guide on the expedition, ascended the summit without supplemental oxygen, "which didn't seem to be in [the] clients' best interest". He also wrote that Boukreev descended from the summit several hours ahead of his clients, and that this was "extremely unorthodox behavior for a guide". He noted however that, once he had descended to the top camp, Boukreev was heroic in his tireless attempts to rescue the missing climbers. Five months after
Into Thin Air was published, Boukreev gave his own account of the Everest disaster in the book
The Climb, co-written with G. Weston DeWalt. Differences centered on what experienced mountaineers thought about the facts of Boukreev's performance. As photographer
Galen Rowell wrote, "the fact [is] that every one of Boukreev's clients survived without major injuries while the clients who died or received major injuries were members of your party. Could you explain how Anatoli [Boukreev]'s shortcomings as a guide led to the survival of his clients…?" In an opinion piece in
The Wall Street Journal, Rowell cited numerous inconsistencies in Krakauer's narrative, observing that Krakauer was sleeping in his tent while Boukreev was rescuing other climbers. Rowell argued that Boukreev's actions were nothing short of heroic, and his judgment prescient: "[Boukreev] foresaw problems with clients nearing camp, noted five other guides on the peak [Everest], and positioned himself to be rested and hydrated enough to respond to an emergency. His heroism was not a fluke." After the publication of
Into Thin Air and
The Climb, DeWalt, Boukreev, and Krakauer became embroiled in disagreements about Krakauer's portrayal of Boukreev. Krakauer had reached a détente with Boukreev in November 1997, but the Russian climber was killed by an avalanche only a few weeks later while climbing
Annapurna. In addition to Boukreev, a couple of expedition members took issue with Krakauer's depiction of the events, including
Gau Ming-ho and
Sandy Hill Pittman. Many others are supportive of Krakauer's account. This includes,
Neal Beidleman who confirms Krakauer’s accuracy and echoes concerns about Boukreev.
David Breashears said his film
Storm Over Everest was "complimentary to
Into Thin Air. Jon Krakauer is a very good friend of mine."
Beck Weathers said Krakauer portrayed his ordeal honestly. Beidleman, Breahshears, and Weathers were all on Everest and survived the storm. Peter Athans, one of the most accomplished American Himalayan mountaineers of the modern era, affirmed that Krakauer did not exaggerate or misrepresent the storm. In 2015 Krakauer said: “I wish I’d never gone. I suffered for years, I still suffer from what happened. I’m glad I wrote a book about it, but you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I never would have climbed Everest.”
Under the Banner of Heaven In 2003,
Under the Banner of Heaven became Krakauer's third nonfiction bestseller. The book examines extremes of religious belief, specifically
fundamentalist offshoots of
Mormonism. Krakauer looks at the practice of
polygamy in these offshoots and scrutinizes it in the context of the
Latter Day Saints (LDS) religion throughout its history. Much of the focus of the book is on the
Lafferty brothers, who murdered Erica and Brenda Lafferty on July 24, 1984 in the name of their fundamentalist faith. In 2006, Tom Elliott and Pawel Gula produced a documentary inspired by the book,
Damned to Heaven.
Robert Millet, Professor of Religious Understanding at
Brigham Young University, an LDS institution, reviewed the book and described it as confusing, poorly organized, misleading, erroneous, prejudicial and insulting. In response, Krakauer criticized the LDS Church hierarchy, citing the opinion of
D. Michael Quinn, a historian who was excommunicated in 1993, who wrote that "The tragic reality is that there have been occasions when Church leaders, teachers, and writers have not told the truth they knew about difficulties of the Mormon past, but have offered to the Saints instead a mixture of platitudes, half-truths, omissions, and plausible denials." Krakauer wrote, "I happen to share Dr. Quinn's perspective". In April 2022, a limited series of
Under the Banner of Heaven was released by
Hulu starring Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman In the October 25, 2007, season premiere of
Iconoclasts on the
Sundance Channel, Krakauer mentioned being deeply embroiled in the writing of a new book, but did not reveal the title, subject, or expected date of completion.
Doubleday Publishing originally planned to release the book in the fall of 2008, but postponed the launch in June of that year, announcing that Krakauer was "unhappy with the manuscript." The book,
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, was released by Doubleday on September 15, 2009. It draws on the journals and letters of
Pat Tillman, an
NFL professional football player and
U.S. Army Ranger whose death in
Afghanistan made him a symbol of American sacrifice and heroism, though it also became a subject of controversy because of the
U.S. Army's cover-up of the fact that Tillman died by
friendly fire. The book draws on the journals and letters of Tillman, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and research Krakauer performed in Afghanistan. It also serves in part as a historical narrative, providing a general history of the civil wars in Afghanistan. Writing about the book in the
New York Times Book Review,
Dexter Filkins said that "too many of the details of Tillman’s life recounted here are mostly banal and inconsequential," but also stated, concerning Tillman's death, "While most of the facts have been reported before, Krakauer performs a valuable service by bringing them all together—particularly those about the cover-up. The details, even five years later, are nauseating to read." In his review in the
Los Angeles Times, Dan Neil wrote that the book is "a beautiful bit of reporting" and "the definitive version of events surrounding Tillman's death."
Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way Three Cups of Deceit is a 2011 e-book that made claims of mismanagement and accounting fraud by
Greg Mortenson, a humanitarian who built schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan; and his charity, the
Central Asia Institute (CAI). It was later released in paperback by
Anchor Books. The book—and a related
60 Minutes interview broadcast the day before the book's release—were controversial. Some CAI donors filed a class-action lawsuit against Mortenson for having allegedly defrauded them with false claims in his books. The suit was eventually rejected. Mortenson and CAI were investigated by the
Montana attorney general, who determined that they had made financial "missteps", and the Attorney General reached a settlement for restitution from Mortenson to CAI in excess of $1 million. The 2016 documentary
3000 Cups of Tea by Jennifer Jordan and Jeff Rhoads claims that the accusations against Mortenson put forward by
60 Minutes and Jon Krakauer are largely untrue. Jordan said in 2014: "We are still investigating this story. So far, our findings are indicating that the majority of the allegations are grossly misrepresented to make him appear in the worst possible light, or are outright false. Yes, Greg is a bad manager and accountant, and he is the first to admit that, but he is also a tireless humanitarian with a crucially important mission."
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (2015) explores how rape is handled by colleges and the criminal justice system. The book follows several case studies of women raped in
Missoula, Montana, many of them linked in some way to the
University of Montana. Krakauer attempts to illuminate why many victims do not want to report their rapes to the police, and he criticizes the justice system for giving the benefit of the doubt to assailants but not to victims. Krakauer was inspired to write the book when a friend of his, a young woman, revealed to him that she had been raped.
Emily Bazelon, writing for the
New York Times Book Review, gave the book a lukewarm review, criticizing it for not fully exploring its characters or appreciating the difficulty colleges face in handling and trying to prevent sexual assault, writing that "Instead of delving deeply into questions of fairness as universities try to fulfill a recent government mandate to conduct their own investigations and hearings—apart from the police and the courts—Krakauer settles for bromides."
As editor , Krakauer edits the Exploration series of the
Modern Library. ==See also==