Summary
On September 6, 1992, Christopher McCandless's body is found inside an abandoned bus in Alaska (63°52′06.23″N 149°46′09.49″W / 63.8683972°N 149.7693028°W / 63.8683972; -149.7693028Coordinates: 63°52′06.23″N 149°46′09.49″W / 63.8683972°N 149.7693028°W / 63.8683972; -149.7693028). One year later, author Jon Krakauer retraced McCandless' steps during the two years between college graduation and his demise in Alaska. McCandless shed his legal name early in his journey, adopting the moniker "Alexander Supertramp", after W.H. Davies. He spent time in Carthage, South Dakota laboring for months in a grain elevator owned by Wayne Westerberg before hitchhiking to Alaska. Krakauer interprets McCandless's intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau, and McCandless's favorite writer, Jack London. He explores the similarities between McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail Krakauer's own attempt to climb Devils Thumb in Alaska. Krakauer also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah desert during 1934 at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless's parents, sister, and friends.
Read more about this topic: Into The Wild (book)
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