Jon Krakauer Books: Into Thin Air Under the Banner of Heaven and More

Prior to joining the 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest that led Jon Krakauer to write and publish "Into Thin Air", he was already a full-time journalist writing for "Outside" Magazine and was publishing articles and short stories elsewhere, as well. "Eiger Dreams", in fact, was his first mountain-climbing centered book, before Into Thin Air.

Krakauer has since gone on to prove his merit as a skilled writer by authoring books on very diverse topics and hitting the best-seller list with many of them.

This is the book that made Jon Krakauer familiar to readers who didn't usually follow the mountaineering or climbing genre.

In 1996, Krakauer, a skilled mountaineer in his own right, joined a guided expedition to climb and chronicle an ascent of Mt. Everest. The tragedy that occured on the descent became known as "the Everest disaster". A storm rapidly enveloped the mountain and by the time it was over, four of six expedition members were dead, including their guide. The other climbing team that was to be featured for the planned "Outside" magazine article also lost most of their team members and their guide.

Krakauer did publish his planned article in "Outside" in late 1996. By 1997, he had expanded on the article by writing "Into Thin Air". This detailed and riveting account of the climb, the summit and the disaster will have you holding your breath and anticipating the next page. Even though most people know the tragic outcome, the book is still a jaw-dropping, suspenseful page-turner.

Krakauer also uses the book to discuss the controversial commercialism of "climbing Everest". The idea that anyone with a little climbing experience and enough money to get there should be able to summit, in many climbers' opinions, has led to dangerous consequences and is destroying the experience and the mountain.

Eiger Dreams is a compilation of Krakauer's previously published, climbing related articles. Many are first-hand accounts of his own experiences. Krakauer presents these stories with humor, some of it self-depricating, and candor.

Eiger Dreams is great for those who don't wish to dive into a full-length novel. Each story in Eiger Dreams is self-contained and just the right length for the short attention span.

Those who climb will appreciate that the author was himself, an avid climber and mountaineer at the time he was writing these stories. Those who do not climb, but are interested in reading about it will get a glimpse into the mind of these adventurers. It may still not answer the questions "why climb"? but this book provides some clues.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" uses the true murder story of a young woman and her infant daughter as step stone to reveal the world of mormon fundamentalism.

The murderers claim that the murders were divinely sanctioned and justified. Krakauer goes on to explore the foundation and tenets of the mormon church. He shows how these groups hold a good deal of power, even though they aren't part of "mainstream" mormonism.

The extreme groups still practice polygamy, use violence and sexual brutality to advance the interests of the their self-proclaimed leaders.

Reading this book, you do not get the sense of an anti-mormon sentiment. Rather, Krakauer uses the example to show how any religious fundamentalists can justify any behavior by invoking the will of God.

"Into the Wild" tells the tale of a young man who gave up everything, including a promising future, to move to Alaska for a minimal subsistence. Christopher McCandless graduated from college in 1991 and set off on a journey that started in the desert and ended, permanently, in the Alaskan wild. He started calling himself "Alexander Supertramp" and after burning his cash an ditching his car, hitchhiked into the Alaskan bush with a bag of rice and a .22 caliber rifle.

Krakauer explores the possible events that could have led up to and from this point until McCandless was found dead at his campsite, just 4 months later.

This most recent edition to Jon Krakauer's bibliography explores the story of Pat Tillman. Tillman was the American patriot who gave up a multi-million dollar NFL contract to serve in the military after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

After enlisting in the Army in 2002, Tillman served a tour in Iraq. His second deployment to Afghanistan would be his last, however. He died while serving there in 2004. The circumstances surrounding his death were not revealed, however, for over a month after he died. In the mean time, the president, then George W. Bush, used his name, his story and his sacrifice as a rallying cry to renew support for the war. It was finally confirmed by the Army that he was killed by friendly fire.

Krakauer interviewed Tillman's friends, wife and family to paint a picture of Tillman. He spent time in Afghanistan and talked to the soldiers who were there with him. Some critics think Krakauer uses Tillman's story to promote an anti-war agenda, but Tillman, himself called the war in Iraq illegal, so this may not be a disservice to his memory.