Into the Wild is a pretty well known non-fiction book that has been covered several times on CBR. It’s the fatal story of Chris McCandless/ Alexander Sumpertramp ‘s journey into the Alaskan bush. He is under-prepared and a few small mistakes lead to his untimely death. Jon Krakauer, a journalist, wrote the original article detailing the recovery of McCandless’ body; Into the Wild is his follow up. Chris graduated college and vaguely implied to his parents his intentions to go to law school- instead he […]
“Common sense is no match for the voice of God.”
As in Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, Krakauer starts with one case — in this book, the brutal murders of Brenda & Erica Lafferty — and expands from there to give the reader a full understanding of Mormonism, and its terrifying offshoot, the fundamental Mormons responsible for this violence and so much more. “As a means of motivating people to be cruel or inhumane-as a means of inciting evil, to borrow the vocabulary of the devout-there may be no more potent force than […]
“My ignorance was inexcusable, and it made me ashamed.”
Jon Krakauer began researching this book after learning that a friend of his had been sexually assaulted twice in her life, both times by “non-strangers”. Krakauer, like many people, had always pictured rapists as men with masks hiding in the bushes, pouncing on random women. In his research, he learned how incredibly often that women are raped by people they know — either closely or as acquaintances — and how seldom those rapists are brought to justice. He chose to focus his attention on a series of rapes that […]
An engrossing book about the horrific rape culture in the United States
I read an abridged version of Krakauer’s Into Thin Air soon after it was published, and was absorbed by the prose and the presentation of the story. I’m currently waiting for a copy from the e-library to make its way to me, but while I wait, I thought I would try others. My courage was high, so I checked out Missoula. Oh, mercy. Oh, mercy. The Chancellor would occasionally look over at my angry vein throbbing in my head and ask, “WHY are you reading […]