By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions this still surround the event. He takes excellent pains to offer a balanced image of the people and events he witnessed and provides due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He in addition avoids blasting simple targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who delivered an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe offers a excellent deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion this his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous! assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air consists of an widespread new postscript this sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate this flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt this Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility this he made even a single poor decision. Never did he mean this perhaps it wasn't the excellent choice to climb not including gas or go down ahead of his customers." As usual, Krakauer maintains his points together with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse this has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points much of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored, The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer re! counts his last dialog together with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree concerning certain points. Krakauer had excellent hopes to patch things up together with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Prize in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters-a prestigious award designed "to honor writers of unprecedented accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism together with the trendy subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was one time a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation afterwards challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even extra deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating results of its lure on a young and curious intellect."
"I have no doubt this Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in a postscript dated August 1998. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility this he made even a single poor decision. Never did he mean this perhaps it wasn't the excellent choice to climb not including gas or go down ahead of his customers." As usual, Krakauer maintains his points together with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse this has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points much of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last dialog together with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree concerning certain points. Krakauer had excellent hopes to patch things up together with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in a avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. Krakauer further buries the ice axe by donating his share of royalties from sales of The Illustrated Edition to the Everest '96 Memorial Fund, which aids various environmental and humanitarian charities. --Rob McDonald