For the first time, I was able to get a coherent view of what really happened in 1996. Despite these reservations, however, I was enthralled by the book. The more one looks into such complex events, the more obvious it becomes that there are any number of different versions of the same story-and there is no such thing as a definitive account. Perhaps I am being pedantic, but I think one should be suspicious of a book that claims to be “the definitive account” of the 1996 tragedy. Why dismiss her so perfunctorily, while bending over backwards, in the early pages at least, to find something tactful to say about the appalling Ms. South African climber Cathy O’Dowd, who reached the summit two weeks after Krakauer, is described as having virtually no mountaineering experience. The 1953 expedition, for instance, is dismissed as “a large British team organized with the righteous zeal and overpowering resources of a military campaign.” It was, in fact, a very modest, understated affair in comparison to the type of expeditions surrounding Krakauer in 1996. Krakauer’s slickly sketched pen portraits do not always quite convince and the shorthand historical summaries sometimes trample on subtlety.

It requires a skilled writer to do justice to that material, and Into Thin Air has been praised as great “literature,” but to my mind this is not so much literature as a highly competent piece of journalism.Įven the best journalism runs the risk of oversimplification. What, I wondered, is so special about this book? The answer, of course, is the uniquely compelling human drama of its subject matter. I think it was all the hype, all the people insisting, “you must read it,” all the talk of million-dollar advances. Black-and-white photos, woodcut illustrations.

Into thin air author