Author: George Wythe Baylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
"From 1899 to 1906, Colonel Baylor wrote fifty-two articles for the El Paso Daily Herald. The articles, ably edited and annotated by historian Thompson, vary from accounts of the Civil War in El Paso and the Mesilla Valley, to fights with Comanches in North Texas and Victorio's Apaches in the mountains of Chihuahua. Baylor also recalls the ill-fated 1850-1851 Parker H. French Expedition and life in the California gold fields. Also included are biographical sketches of "Don Santiago" Magoffin and Baylor's controversial older brother, Col. John Robert Baylor." "Some of Baylor's most valuable writings are his Civil War recollections. These include accounts of the surrender of Federal forces at St. Agustin Springs, New Mexico in 1861, the massacre of Lt. Reuben E. Mays and fourteen Confederates deep in the arid expanses of the Big Bend, his service as senior aide to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Red River Campaign, and an amazingly objective account of how he came to kill Gen. John A. Wharton at the Fannin Hotel in Houston in April 1865."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Into the Far, Wild Country
Author: George Wythe Baylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
"From 1899 to 1906, Colonel Baylor wrote fifty-two articles for the El Paso Daily Herald. The articles, ably edited and annotated by historian Thompson, vary from accounts of the Civil War in El Paso and the Mesilla Valley, to fights with Comanches in North Texas and Victorio's Apaches in the mountains of Chihuahua. Baylor also recalls the ill-fated 1850-1851 Parker H. French Expedition and life in the California gold fields. Also included are biographical sketches of "Don Santiago" Magoffin and Baylor's controversial older brother, Col. John Robert Baylor." "Some of Baylor's most valuable writings are his Civil War recollections. These include accounts of the surrender of Federal forces at St. Agustin Springs, New Mexico in 1861, the massacre of Lt. Reuben E. Mays and fourteen Confederates deep in the arid expanses of the Big Bend, his service as senior aide to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Red River Campaign, and an amazingly objective account of how he came to kill Gen. John A. Wharton at the Fannin Hotel in Houston in April 1865."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
"From 1899 to 1906, Colonel Baylor wrote fifty-two articles for the El Paso Daily Herald. The articles, ably edited and annotated by historian Thompson, vary from accounts of the Civil War in El Paso and the Mesilla Valley, to fights with Comanches in North Texas and Victorio's Apaches in the mountains of Chihuahua. Baylor also recalls the ill-fated 1850-1851 Parker H. French Expedition and life in the California gold fields. Also included are biographical sketches of "Don Santiago" Magoffin and Baylor's controversial older brother, Col. John Robert Baylor." "Some of Baylor's most valuable writings are his Civil War recollections. These include accounts of the surrender of Federal forces at St. Agustin Springs, New Mexico in 1861, the massacre of Lt. Reuben E. Mays and fourteen Confederates deep in the arid expanses of the Big Bend, his service as senior aide to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, the Red River Campaign, and an amazingly objective account of how he came to kill Gen. John A. Wharton at the Fannin Hotel in Houston in April 1865."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Wild Country
Author: Anne Bishop
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 0399587276
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
There are ghost towns in the world-places where humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the Others. One of those places is Bennett, a town surrounded by wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children - one of whom is a blood prophet - hope to find acceptance. Will this new community reunite them all? Or will more blood be shed?
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 0399587276
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
There are ghost towns in the world-places where humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the Others. One of those places is Bennett, a town surrounded by wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children - one of whom is a blood prophet - hope to find acceptance. Will this new community reunite them all? Or will more blood be shed?
Wild Country
Author: Mark Vallance
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
ISBN: 1910240826
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Shortlisted: 2016 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature '[Wild Country] chronicles not just the mountains [Mark] has climbed, but the part he played in bringing to market a little piece of sporting equipment that revolutionised mountaineering and saved countless lives.' – Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Post In early 1978, an extraordinary new invention for rock climbers was featured on the BBC television science show Tomorrow's World. It was called the 'Friend', and it not only made the sport safer, it helped push the limits of the possible. The company that made them was called Wild Country, the brainchild of Mark Vallance. Within six months, Vallance was selling Friends in sixteen countries. Wild Country would go on to develop much of the gear that transformed climbing in the 1980s. Mark Vallance's influence on the outdoor world extends far beyond the company he founded. He owned and opened the influential retailer Outside in the Peak District and was part of the team that built The Foundry, Sheffield's premier climbing wall – the first modern climbing gym in Britain. He worked for the Peak District National Park and served on its board. He even found time to climb 8,000-metre peaks and the Nose on El Capitan. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in his mid fifties and robbed of his plans for retirement, Vallance found a new sense of purpose as a reforming president of the British Mountaineering Council. In Wild Country, Vallance traces his story, from childhood influences like Robin Hodgkin and Sir Jack Longland, to two years in Antarctica, where he was base commander of the UK's largest and most southerly scientific station at Halley Bay, before his fateful meeting with Ray Jardine, the man who invented Friends, in Yosemite. Trenchant, provocative and challenging, Wild Country is a remarkable personal story and a fresh perspective on the role of the outdoors in British life and the development of climbing in its most revolutionary phase.
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
ISBN: 1910240826
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Shortlisted: 2016 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature '[Wild Country] chronicles not just the mountains [Mark] has climbed, but the part he played in bringing to market a little piece of sporting equipment that revolutionised mountaineering and saved countless lives.' – Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Post In early 1978, an extraordinary new invention for rock climbers was featured on the BBC television science show Tomorrow's World. It was called the 'Friend', and it not only made the sport safer, it helped push the limits of the possible. The company that made them was called Wild Country, the brainchild of Mark Vallance. Within six months, Vallance was selling Friends in sixteen countries. Wild Country would go on to develop much of the gear that transformed climbing in the 1980s. Mark Vallance's influence on the outdoor world extends far beyond the company he founded. He owned and opened the influential retailer Outside in the Peak District and was part of the team that built The Foundry, Sheffield's premier climbing wall – the first modern climbing gym in Britain. He worked for the Peak District National Park and served on its board. He even found time to climb 8,000-metre peaks and the Nose on El Capitan. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in his mid fifties and robbed of his plans for retirement, Vallance found a new sense of purpose as a reforming president of the British Mountaineering Council. In Wild Country, Vallance traces his story, from childhood influences like Robin Hodgkin and Sir Jack Longland, to two years in Antarctica, where he was base commander of the UK's largest and most southerly scientific station at Halley Bay, before his fateful meeting with Ray Jardine, the man who invented Friends, in Yosemite. Trenchant, provocative and challenging, Wild Country is a remarkable personal story and a fresh perspective on the role of the outdoors in British life and the development of climbing in its most revolutionary phase.
The Long, Long Afternoon
Author: Inga Vesper
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.
ISBN: 1838772294
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
A Stylist Best New Fiction of 2021 Selection, this stunning 1950s set debut mystery is a perfect summer read. 'A remarkably assured debut. A tale of inequality, broken dreams and quiet desperation behind a picture-perfect facade' Guardian 'A clever and absorbing debut by Inga Vesper, who bricks Joyce up in her perfect house, then smashes it to pieces with aplomb' The Times ________ Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . . It's the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. While the Haney's neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family's 'help', who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes' starched curtains than anyone, and it isn't long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole 'perfect' world to set alight . . . A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated. Everyone is talking about The Long, Long Afternoon 'Beguiling and evocative. This vivid and atmospheric pageturner will keep readers guessing all the way to its satisfying finale' Sunday Express 'Beautifully crafted, claustrophobic and compelling. As delicious as a long drink on a hot day' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars and The Foundling 'Such a vivid atmosphere of stifling LA heat and stifling 50s domesticity' Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures 'Breathtakingly stylish, hypnotic and masterfully gripping' Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End, Waterstones Thriller of the Month 'A triumph. What a pleasure to read something fresh and original. For once the hype is justified and Inga Vesper's gripping page turner must surely now be bound for Netflix' Evening Standard 'A tasty, tense, page-turning combo of James Ellroy and Kate Atkinson with a bit of Mad Men thrown in' Liz Hyder 'For fans of Revolutionary Road and Mad Men, this is an atmospheric tale of repression and style at the heart of the American Dream' Stylist
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.
ISBN: 1838772294
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
A Stylist Best New Fiction of 2021 Selection, this stunning 1950s set debut mystery is a perfect summer read. 'A remarkably assured debut. A tale of inequality, broken dreams and quiet desperation behind a picture-perfect facade' Guardian 'A clever and absorbing debut by Inga Vesper, who bricks Joyce up in her perfect house, then smashes it to pieces with aplomb' The Times ________ Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . . It's the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. While the Haney's neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family's 'help', who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes' starched curtains than anyone, and it isn't long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole 'perfect' world to set alight . . . A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated. Everyone is talking about The Long, Long Afternoon 'Beguiling and evocative. This vivid and atmospheric pageturner will keep readers guessing all the way to its satisfying finale' Sunday Express 'Beautifully crafted, claustrophobic and compelling. As delicious as a long drink on a hot day' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars and The Foundling 'Such a vivid atmosphere of stifling LA heat and stifling 50s domesticity' Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures 'Breathtakingly stylish, hypnotic and masterfully gripping' Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End, Waterstones Thriller of the Month 'A triumph. What a pleasure to read something fresh and original. For once the hype is justified and Inga Vesper's gripping page turner must surely now be bound for Netflix' Evening Standard 'A tasty, tense, page-turning combo of James Ellroy and Kate Atkinson with a bit of Mad Men thrown in' Liz Hyder 'For fans of Revolutionary Road and Mad Men, this is an atmospheric tale of repression and style at the heart of the American Dream' Stylist
A History of Wild Places
Author: Shea Ernshaw
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982164816
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
"Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James-a well-known author of dark, macabre children's books-he's led to a place many believed to be only a legend. Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn't exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it...he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James. Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis's abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there's a risk of bringing a disease-rot-into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn't as safe as they believed-and that darkness takes many forms"--
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982164816
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
"Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James-a well-known author of dark, macabre children's books-he's led to a place many believed to be only a legend. Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn't exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it...he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James. Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis's abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there's a risk of bringing a disease-rot-into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn't as safe as they believed-and that darkness takes many forms"--
A Lady's Experiences in the Wild West in 1883
Author: Rose Pender
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803287921
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The aristocratic Rose Pender and her husband, James, were among the thousands of English travelers in the American West during the latter half of the nineteenth century. This is Pender's lively account of a grand tour in 1883 of Texas, California, Salt Lake City, Wyoming, Dakota Territory, and far-flung points. ø A. B. Guthrie Jr. in his foreword writes that "all students and collectors will want" A Lady's Experiences in the Wild West in 1883. "It deals with a West in transition from frontier to the glimmer of modern times, from open range to fenced pastures, from trails to trains, from makeshift and made-do to more convenient and easier ways. We see it through the eyes and from the sensibilities of a gentlewoman and a Britisher to boot. The woman was indeed a Lady. She brought to America her highborn prejudices and standards. . .and with them a sharp eye, a chatty pen, and a game spirit. . . . She adds to our knowledge of a time no one is old enough to remember."
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803287921
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The aristocratic Rose Pender and her husband, James, were among the thousands of English travelers in the American West during the latter half of the nineteenth century. This is Pender's lively account of a grand tour in 1883 of Texas, California, Salt Lake City, Wyoming, Dakota Territory, and far-flung points. ø A. B. Guthrie Jr. in his foreword writes that "all students and collectors will want" A Lady's Experiences in the Wild West in 1883. "It deals with a West in transition from frontier to the glimmer of modern times, from open range to fenced pastures, from trails to trains, from makeshift and made-do to more convenient and easier ways. We see it through the eyes and from the sensibilities of a gentlewoman and a Britisher to boot. The woman was indeed a Lady. She brought to America her highborn prejudices and standards. . .and with them a sharp eye, a chatty pen, and a game spirit. . . . She adds to our knowledge of a time no one is old enough to remember."
This Wild, Wild Country
Author: Inga Vesper
Publisher: Manilla Press
ISBN: 9781838776695
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The captivating new mystery from the author of The Long, Long Afternoon
Publisher: Manilla Press
ISBN: 9781838776695
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The captivating new mystery from the author of The Long, Long Afternoon
Life Lived Wild
Author: Rick Ridgeway
Publisher: Patagonia
ISBN: 9781938340994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild, Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes, “to distinguish matters of consequence from matters of inconsequence.” He leaves it to his readers, though, to do the final sort of which is which."--Amazon.
Publisher: Patagonia
ISBN: 9781938340994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild, Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes, “to distinguish matters of consequence from matters of inconsequence.” He leaves it to his readers, though, to do the final sort of which is which."--Amazon.
Strangers in Their Own Land
Author: Arlie Russell Hochschild
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973987
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973987
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.
Into the Wild
Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307476863
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die. "It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild. Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307476863
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die. "It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild. Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.