Jon Krakauer Books in Order: Complete Bibliography & Best Starting Points
Jon Krakauer's complete bibliography in order — from Into the Wild and Into Thin Air to Under the Banner of Heaven. Best starting points for new readers.
Jon Krakauer (b. 1954) is the most widely read American narrative nonfiction writer working in the tradition of outdoor adventure and investigative reporting. His books are characterised by meticulous research, first-person authority (he was on Everest; he retraced McCandless’s route), and a willingness to implicate himself in the stories he tells. His account of the 1996 Everest disaster in Into Thin Air is the foundational text of modern mountaineering literature.
He has also been an important voice on issues of institutional accountability: his writing on sex assault in college athletics (Missoula, 2015) contributed to the national conversation about how universities handle assault cases.
Where to Start
Into Thin Air (1997)
The best starting point — the 1996 Everest disaster from the perspective of a climber who was on the mountain. The immediacy of the account (Krakauer was above the death zone when the storm struck) and the book’s searching self-examination make it the most compelling of his books. The account of Rob Hall’s final hours — and his radio conversation with his pregnant wife in New Zealand as he died — is one of the most moving sequences in narrative nonfiction.
Into the Wild (1996)
The most widely known of Krakauer’s books — Christopher McCandless’s walk into the Alaskan wilderness and death by starvation. Krakauer identifies with McCandless’s desire to escape and finds in his story a reflection of a wider American yearning for wilderness as transcendence. The book is also a portrait of a young man whose relationship with his father was the engine of his escape; the account of that relationship, and of the family he left behind, gives the adventure narrative its human depth.
Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)
The most analytically ambitious of Krakauer’s books — a history of Mormon fundamentalism structured around a double murder. Krakauer’s research into the history of the LDS church, the practice of polygamy, and the various fundamentalist communities that have broken from the mainline Church is comprehensive and compellingly presented. The book was controversial among LDS members; Krakauer’s account is not hostile but is unflinching about the violence in Mormon history.
Complete Bibliography
| Title | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Eiger Dreams | 1990 | Early essays; climbing |
| Into the Wild | 1996 | McCandless; Alaska; most widely read |
| Into Thin Air | 1997 | Everest disaster; best starting point |
| Under the Banner of Heaven | 2003 | Mormon fundamentalism; murder |
| Where Men Win Glory | 2009 | Pat Tillman; NFL; Afghanistan |
| Missoula | 2015 | Sexual assault; university athletics |
Reading Order Recommendations
New to Krakauer: Into Thin Air → Into the Wild → Under the Banner of Heaven.
Adventure focus: Into Thin Air → Into the Wild → Eiger Dreams.
Investigative focus: Under the Banner of Heaven → Missoula → Where Men Win Glory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Jon Krakauer book to start with?
Into Thin Air (1997) is the best starting point — Krakauer's first-person account of the 1996 Everest disaster, in which he was on the mountain when eight climbers died. The book is both a gripping narrative of the disaster as it unfolded and a searching examination of Krakauer's own role in it — he may have contributed to a climber's death through misidentification. Into the Wild (1996) is the more widely known starting point — the story of Christopher McCandless, who walked into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992 and died there — but Into Thin Air is the more formally accomplished.
What is Into the Wild about?
Into the Wild (1996) follows Christopher McCandless, a twenty-two-year-old who gave away his savings, abandoned his car, and walked into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food or equipment. He died of starvation four months later, his body discovered in an abandoned bus near Denali. Krakauer reconstructed McCandless's journey from his journals, the letters he wrote, and interviews with people who encountered him on the road. The book is both a portrait of a young man in flight from his family and background and a meditation on the American tradition of wilderness as escape.
What is Into Thin Air about?
Into Thin Air (1997) is Krakauer's account of the 1996 Everest season, during which he was on the mountain as a journalist for Outside magazine. A storm on May 10 killed eight climbers, including two expedition leaders, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. Krakauer's account of the disaster is extraordinarily immediate — he was above 25,000 feet when the storm struck — and searching in its self-examination. He questions his own decisions and actions during the descent and acknowledges that he may have contributed to a fellow climber's death through mistaken identification in the storm. The most gripping first-person account of mountaineering disaster available.
What is Under the Banner of Heaven about?
Under the Banner of Heaven (2003) uses the 1984 murders of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter — killed by her brothers-in-law, who claimed to have received a divine revelation commanding them to do it — as the basis for a comprehensive history of Mormon fundamentalism. Krakauer moves between the murder investigation, the trial, and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: the founding by Joseph Smith, the practice of polygamy, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the various fundamentalist splinter groups that have refused to accept the mainline Church's renunciation of polygamy. The most comprehensive and readable account of Mormon fundamentalism available.
