A Thousand Trails Home
Raising Ourselves

Into the Wild

McCandess 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. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention.

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 interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.

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. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer’s stoytelling blaze through every page.

More Adult, Non-Juvenile Books

  • In Shishmaref, Alaska, new seawalls are constructed while residents navigate the many practical and bureaucratic obstacles to moving their entire island village to higher ground. Farther south, inland hunters and fishermen set out to grow more of their own food–and to support the reintroduction of wood bison, an ancient species well suited to expected habitat changes. First Nations people in Canada team with conservationists to protect land for both local use and environmental resilience. In Early Warming, Alaskan Writer Laureate, Nancy Lord, takes a cutting-edge look at how communities in the North–where global warming is amplified and climate-change effects are most [...]

  • In Finding Margaret Fuller, the remarkable life of Margaret Fuller unfolds as she navigates the intellectual circles of 19th-century America, becoming a mentor to Louisa May Alcott and inspiring Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. As she breaks barriers—becoming the first woman allowed to study at Harvard and the first female foreign news correspondent—Fuller embarks on a journey filled with passion, revolution, and self-discovery, ultimately challenging the societal norms of her time.

    Read More about "Finding Margaret Fuller"...

  • Settle in with these Garfield Sunday funnies, handpicked and annotated by celebrated Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis.

  • Half American provides a powerful retelling of World War II, focusing on the contributions of over one million Black soldiers who fought bravely in segregated units while battling racism at home. This meticulously researched work highlights the stories of Black military heroes and civil rights icons, revealing their sacrifices and struggles for equality in a nation that often overlooked their bravery.

    Read More about "Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad"...