Into Thin Air (SparkNotes Literature Guide)

Jon Krakauer was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on April 12, 1954. He received a degree in environmental studies from Hampshire College in Massachusetts in 1976. He worked as a carpenter, fisherman, and writer. He articles on mountain climbing appeared in several publications including GQ, National Geographic, Architectural Digest, Playboy, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. In 1996, he climbed Mt. Everest, but a storm took the lives of four of the five teammates who reached the summit with him. An analysis of the calamity he wrote for Outside magazine received a National Magazine Award. An article he wrote for Smithsonian about volcanology received the 1997 Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism.

He is the author of several books including Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster; Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith; Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman; Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way; and Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. His book, Into the Wild, was made into a movie in 2007. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.

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