by Jon Krakauer
First published 1996
In 1992, 24-year-old Christopher McCandless ditches his comfortable life to embark on a solo journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Fueled by a desire for freedom and self-discovery, he burns his cash, donates his savings, and vanishes without a trace. But his idealistic quest for a raw, authentic experience soon turns desperate as he faces the merciless realities of living off the land. When McCandless's innocent mistakes prove fatal, his tragic story becomes a haunting meditation on the power and peril of the American wilderness.
Genres: nature, survival, adventure, coming-of-age, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, man-vs-nature
Setting: Alaska, United States, West (U.S.), Washington D.C.
Period: 1992, 1990's
240 pages · Paperback · Anchor Books
Content warnings: death