Into the Wild

Into the Wild is the bestselling non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer, and was written in 1996 as an expansion of Krakauer's 9,000 word article, "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside magazine.  Krakauer spent three years carrying out the background research work for this biography.  It covers the tale of Christopher McCandless, who in April 1992 at the age of 24, wandered into the Alaska wilderness with only 10 pounds of rice, a .22 calibre rifle, a camera, & some books.....and was found dead of starvation four months later in an abandoned bus.   After graduating in 1990 from Emory University, McCandless ceased communicating with his family, gave away his $24,000 savings account, and began travelling under the name Alexander Supertramp.  He later abandoned his car and burned all the money in his wallet in an attempt to become self-sufficient and live off the land.  Krakauer intersperses the McCandless story with discussions of his own wilderness experiences and those of other wilderness seekers (such as Everett Ruess, John Muir, and John Menlove Edwards).  The book has been adapted into a 2007 movie by the same name...screenplay and direction by Sean Penn, starring Emile Hirsch as McCandless.