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Intimate Strangers: Arendt, Marcuse, Solzhenitsyn, and Said in American Political Discourse
by Andreea Deciu RitivoiAndreea Deciu Ritivoi is professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on immigration, exile, political discourse, argumentation theory, and intellectual history. She is the author of Yesterday's Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity and Paul Ricoeur: Tradition and Innovation in Rhetorical Theory.
Intimate Strangers: Comic Profiles and Indiscretions of the Very Famous
by Bill ZehmeSchwarzenegger intimidates. Sharon Stone strips. Leno and Letterman duel. In twenty years of raw and raucous celebrity profiles Irreverently bold journalist Bill Zehme has long been celebrated for his ability to get under the skins of our most elusive icons, from the evasive Warren Beatty to the ever-unpredictable Madonna to the much misunderstood Barry Manilow. Now his most provocative work is collected for the first time, with over twenty-five landmark profiles, including Frank Sinatra, Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld, Liberace, Howard Stern, Eddie Murphy, and Woody Allen. Zehme witnesses Hugh Hefner withstanding the single blow that never entered into an adolescent boy's dreams--losing his fantasy woman. He gets a nude massage with Sharon Stone, and an earful about men, sex, and the shotgun she keeps under her bed. Included, too, is Zehme's exclusive firsthand coverage of David Letterman and Jay Leno, before and throughout their late-night feud. Here is entertainment history through the eyes of a man the Chicago Tribune called "one of the most successful and prolific magazine writers in the country. " Hilarious, endearing, and wickedly insightful,Intimate Strangerscaptures the business of celebrity for what it is: a big, lusty, star-crossed love affair between our icons and ourselves.
Intimate Strangers: The Letters of Margaret Laurence and Gabrielle Roy
by Margaret Laurence Gabrielle RoyThe books of Margaret Laurence and Gabrielle Roy are among the most beloved in Canadian literature. In 1976, when both were at the height of their careers, they began a seven-year written correspondence. Laurence had just published her widely acclaimed The Diviners, for which she won her second Governor-General’s Award, and Roy had returned to the centre of the literary stage with a series of books that many critics now consider her richest and most mature works. Although both women had been born and raised in Manitoba — Laurence in Neepawa and Roy in St. Boniface — they met only once, in 1978 at a conference in Calgary. As these letters reveal, their prairie background created a common understanding of place and culture that bridged the differences of age and language. Here Laurence and Roy discuss everything from their own and each other’s writing, to Canadian politics, housekeeping, publishing, and their love of nature. With a thoughtful introduction by Paul G. Socken, these lovely and intimate letters record the moving, affectionate friendship between two remarkable women.
Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom
by Merle HoffmanA &“searingly honest debut memoir&” from an activist and award-winning journalist who made a woman&’s right to choose her life&’s work (Kirkus Reviews). Merle Hoffman had built a life as a classical pianist and self-made millionaire before her passion for the equality and freedom of girls and women drew her to a bigger cause: protecting a woman&’s right to have a safe and legal abortion. Hoffman became an expert in women&’s reproductive healthcare and used her entrepreneurial spirit to build one of the most comprehensive women&’s medical centers in the country. In 1971, two years before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision made abortion legal throughout the US, Hoffman founded the New York abortion clinic Choices. As a medical provider, she pioneered &“patient power,&” encouraging women to participate in their own health care decisions. Through her singular journey, Hoffman had many loves and even adopted a daughter from Russia, but never wavered in her commitment to fighting on the front lines of the feminist movement. &“From her decision to adopt a child to her love affairs, this is the story of one woman&’s quest to live fully. Opinionated, fierce, bold and brash, Intimate Wars chronicles Hoffman&’s efforts to improve women&’s lives and influence history. She deserves our gratitude.&” —Truthout
Intimations of Joseph Conrad: A Century of Sightings and Citings of Conrad’s Presences in Print, Crafts, Media and Monuments
by G.W. Stephen BrodskyMaster mariner and pioneer author of Modernist technique Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) achieved such eminence in his lifetime that his presence, explicit or implicit, could be found in the lives and works of several contemporaries of consequence. Through the century since his death he has lived on as a presence in the works of later authors to the present day. A collection spanning fifteen years of the present author’s sightings of Conrad’s presences are not only literary, but also memorial. Monuments, sculpture, ships, plaques, the performing arts, cabinetry and even a pub find a place. Each sighting is described in its context—a couple of certain or likely sightings by Conrad, such as Molière and Matthew Arnold, and the rest sightings or ambient intimations of Conrad’s presence –fiction and social commentary in novels and film by significant authors who carry on his legacy, from contemporaries such as H.G. Wells, Ford Madox Ford and F. Scott Fitzgerald to moderns George Orwell, Albert Camus, John Le Carrée, Ian MacEwan and John Banfield, among others. Presented in a clear yet poetic prose style, this record of Conrad’s influence on these contemporary and later writers brings a significant dimension to their interpretation; conversely Conrad’s place may be perceived more precisely in the historically broadening canon from Modernist to Postmodern. Together with its illustrations, Intimations of Joseph Conrad is a novel and unique concept, as entertaining as it is informative.
Intimations: Six Essays
by Zadie SmithDeeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of essays on the experience of lock down, by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time"There will be many books written about the year 2020: historical, analytic, political and comprehensive accounts. This is not any of those--the year isn't half-way done. What I've tried to do is organize some of the feelings and thoughts that events, so far, have provoked in me, in those scraps of time the year itself has allowed. These are above all personal essays: small by definition, short by necessity."Crafted with the sharp intelligence, wit, and style that have won Zadie Smith millions of fans, and suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these unprecedented times, Intimations is a vital work of art, a gesture of connection, and an act of love--an essential book in extraordinary times.
Intimations: Six Essays
by Zadie SmithDeeply personal and powerfully moving, a short and timely series of reflective essays by one of the most clear-sighted and essential writers of our time <P><P>Written during the early months of lockdown, Intimations explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation. What does it mean to submit to a new reality--or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it? <P><P>Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, Intimations is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened--and what should come next. <P><P>The author will donate her royalties from the sale of Intimations to charity. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Charnwood Large Print Ser.)
by Martin DugardAmerican adventurer and adventure writer Dugard tells how British explorer David Livingstone (1813-73) sought the source of the Nile in the 1860s and 1870s, and how American reporter Henry M. Stanley went looking for him when he had been gone some time longer than expected. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Into Battle: A Seventeen-Year-Old Joins Kitchener's Army
by E.W. ParkerWritten well over ninety years ago while the experiences of youth were still fresh in the authors mind, this is the story of a seventeen-year-old boy from the time he joined Kitcheners Army, as one of the first hundred thousand in 1914, until he found himself in hospital—an officer with the Military Cross—recovering from his last wound, on the day of the Armistice, 11 November, 1918.In no way a formal record of the great and terrible events it describes, this is a purely personal, almost private, account. It is a plain, unvarnished tale—and even more effective for that—of heroism, and the horror peculiar to trench warfare of the First World War.Interspersed with moments of pity, humor and a deep response to natural beauty and peace out of the firing line, it is a record, which in its details, direct simplicity and manner of telling, comes nearer to the truth than many more ambitious accounts.
Into Cambodia: Spring Campaign, Summer Offensive, 1970
by Keith William Nolan"Most of us remember (the 1970 Cambodian campaign) best for the killings of four young people at Kent State. Nolan wants us to remember that it killed a lot of young Americans in Cambodia as well. " -- The Capital Tittles (Madison, WI)"This is combat narrative at its best. Nolan has mastered the soldier's slang and weaves it expertly into the account . . . . full of combat anecdotes detailing battlefield leadership successes and failures. " -- Military Review
Into Danger
by Kate Adie'Reported with skill and personal insight' The TimesBestselling author and the most famous woman in a flak jacket Kate Adie sets out on a fascinating journey to discover just who is attracted to living dangerously - and why.Ever since her days as a reporter on the front line in Iraq and the Iranian Embassy siege in London, Kate Adie has earned her reputation as one of the most intrepid women of her day. Throughout her career she has regularly reported from the world's most dangerous war zones - often placing her own life at serious risk. It has given her a curiosity about the people who are attracted to danger. Why when so many are fearful of anything beyond their daily routine, are others drawn towards situations, or professions which put them in regular peril of their lives? It has proved a fascinating quest that has taken her to the four corners of the globe in pursuit of an answer. She has met those who choose a career in danger, like stuntpeople, landmine exploders, and even a 'snake man' who - aged 96 - has been bitten countless times by poisonous snakes to find venom for vaccines. She has questioned those whose actions put them in danger, like Sir Richard Leakey whose determination to speak out in Kenya nearly cost him his life, as well as criminals and prostitutes who risk all for money. And of course there are those who - through no choice of their own - have been put in danger, such as Saddam Hussein's food taster - not his career of choice. With Kate's insight, wit, and gift for illumination, this is a compelling read.
Into Danger
by Kate Adie'Reported with skill and personal insight' The TimesBestselling author and the most famous woman in a flak jacket Kate Adie sets out on a fascinating journey to discover just who is attracted to living dangerously - and why.Ever since her days as a reporter on the front line in Iraq and the Iranian Embassy siege in London, Kate Adie has earned her reputation as one of the most intrepid women of her day. Throughout her career she has regularly reported from the world's most dangerous war zones - often placing her own life at serious risk. It has given her a curiosity about the people who are attracted to danger. Why when so many are fearful of anything beyond their daily routine, are others drawn towards situations, or professions which put them in regular peril of their lives? It has proved a fascinating quest that has taken her to the four corners of the globe in pursuit of an answer. She has met those who choose a career in danger, like stuntpeople, landmine exploders, and even a 'snake man' who - aged 96 - has been bitten countless times by poisonous snakes to find venom for vaccines. She has questioned those whose actions put them in danger, like Sir Richard Leakey whose determination to speak out in Kenya nearly cost him his life, as well as criminals and prostitutes who risk all for money. And of course there are those who - through no choice of their own - have been put in danger, such as Saddam Hussein's food taster - not his career of choice. With Kate's insight, wit, and gift for illumination, this is a compelling read.
Into Enemy Arms: The Remarkable True Story of a German Girl's Struggle against Nazism, and Her Daring Escape with the Allied Airman She Loved
by Michael HingstonThe suspenseful true story of a love that defied Nazi oppression, and a harrowing journey to freedom. In 1945, Ditha Bruncel was living with her parents in the small town of Lossen, in Upper Silesia. Close Jewish friends had vanished, swastikas hung from every building, and neighbors were disappearing in the middle of the night. At the same time more than fifteen hundred British and Commonwealth airmen were being marched out of Stalag Luft VII, a POW camp in the same region. Twenty-three of these prisoners managed to escape from the marching column—and by chance hobbled into Lossen. One among them, Warrant Officer Gordon Slowey, was the man Ditha was destined to meet and fall in love with. Into Enemy Arms tells the extraordinary story of Ditha and the escaped POWs she helped save. Together, they embarked on a dangerous and daring flight out of Germany. As they faced exhaustion, hunger, extreme cold, and the constant risk of discovery, Ditha and Gordon&’s love for one another intensified, and so did their determination to survive and escape.
Into Enemy Waters: A World War II Story of the Demolition Divers Who Became the Navy SEALS
by Andrew DubbinsA veteran US frogman recounts his experiences in World War II and the risky pre-invasion missions of the Underwater Demolition Teams.?Into Enemy Waters is the story of World War II’s most elite and daring unit of warriors, the direct precursors to the Navy SEALs, told through the eyes of its last living member, ninety-five-year-old George Morgan.Morgan was just a wiry, seventeen-year-old lifeguard from New Jersey when he joined the Navy’s new combat demolition unit, tasked to blow up enemy?coastal defenses ahead of landings by Allied forces. His first assignment: Omaha Beach on D-Day.When he returned stateside, Morgan learned that his service was only beginning. Outfitted with swim trunks, a dive mask, and fins, he was sent to Hawaii and then on to deployments in the Pacific as a member of the elite and pioneering Underwater Demolition Teams. GIs called them “half fish, half nuts.” Today, we call them frogmen—and Navy SEALS.Led by maverick Naval Reserve Officer Draper Kauffman, Morgan would spend the fierce final year of the war swimming up to enemy controlled beaches to gather intel and detonate underwater barriers. He’d have to master the sea, muster superhuman grit, and overcome the demons of Omaha Beach.Moving closer to Japan, the enemy’s island defenses were growing more elaborate and its soldiers more fanatical. From the black sand beaches of Iwo Jima to the shark infested reefs of Okinawa, to the cold seas of Tokyo Bay, teenaged George Morgan was there before most, fighting for his life. And for all of us.Perfect for fans of?Unbroken,?The Right Stuff, and?Band of Brothers.Praise for Into Enemy Waters“A compelling narrative full of World War II fireworks.” —Kirkus Reviews“A rousing history. . . . Drawing on extensive interviews with Morgan, Dubbins creates a vivid and fast-moving narrative of courage and sacrifice under the most extreme conditions. WWII buffs will be thrilled.” —Publishers Weekly“This well-researched book is both visceral and uplifting, telling of a time of great courage, integrity and camaraderie.” —Jill?Heinerth,?author of Into The Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver
Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts
by Evan Ross KatzExplore the history and cultural impact of a groundbreaking television show adored by old and new fans alike: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Over the course of its seven-year run, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cultivated a loyal fandom and featured a strong, complex female lead, at a time when such a character was a rarity. Evan Ross Katz explores the show&’s cultural relevance through a book that is part oral history, part celebration, and part memoir of a personal fandom that has universal resonance still, decades later.Katz—with the help of the show&’s cast, creators, and crew—reveals that although Buffy contributed to important conversations about gender, sexuality, and feminism, it was not free of internal strife, controversy, and shortcomings. Men—both on screen and off—would taint the show&’s reputation as a feminist masterpiece, and changing networks, amongst other factors, would drastically alter the show&’s tone.Katz addresses these issues and more, including interviews with stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, Seth Green, Marc Blucas, Nicholas Brendon, Danny Strong, Tom Lenk, Bianca Lawson, Julie Benz, Clare Kramer, K. Todd Freeman, Sharon Ferguson; and writers Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson, and Drew Z. Greenberg; as well as conversations with Buffy fanatics and friends of the cast including Stacey Abrams, Cynthia Erivo, Lee Pace, Claire Saffitz, Tavi Gevinson, and Selma Blair.Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born engages with the very notion of fandom, and the ways a show like Buffy can influence not only how we see the world but how we exist within it.
Into Great Silence: A Memoir of Discovery and Loss among Vanishing Orcas
by Eva SaulitisScience entwines with matters of the human heart as a whale researcher chronicles the lives of an endangered family of orcas Ever since Eva Saulitis began her whale research in Alaska in the 1980s, she has been drawn deeply into the lives of a single extended family of endangered orcas struggling to survive in Prince William Sound. Over the course of a decades-long career spent observing and studying these whales, and eventually coming to know them as individuals, she has, sadly, witnessed the devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989--after which not a single calf has been born to the group. With the intellectual rigor of a scientist and the heart of a poet, Saulitis gives voice to these vital yet vanishing survivors and the place they are so loyal to. Both an elegy for one orca family and a celebration of the entire species, Into Great Silence is a moving portrait of the interconnectedness of humans with animals and place--and of the responsibility we have to protect them.From the Hardcover edition.
Into Iraq
by Michael PalinIn March 2022, Michael Palin travelled the length of the River Tigris through Iraq to get a sense of what life is like in a region of the world that once formed the cradle of civilisation, but that in recent times has witnessed turmoil and appalling bloodshed. In the journal he kept during his trip he describes the war-ravaged city of Mosul and the children he encounters growing up amid its ruins. He contemplates the graffiti-strewn ruins of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, and he notes the constant presence of armed guards. But there are patches of light amid the dark: boisterous New Year celebrations in Akre, the friendliness of generals and colonels at 'Checkpoint Cheerful', and public poetry readings in Baghdad. People getting on with their lives.At the same time, Michael charts the course of one of the great rivers of the world, showing how the water that gave life to such ancient settlements as Babylon and Ur is now becoming a scarce and hotly contested resource. And he considers the role that Iraq's other great natural resource - oil - plays in both providing wealth and threatening political stability.Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip, and permeated with his warmth and humour, this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country.
Into My Own: The Remarkable People and Events that Shaped a Life
by Roger KahnFrom the author of A Season in the Sun, a memoir from one of America&’s foremost sportswriters about his life and influences. After successful seasons as a newspaperman and magazine writer, Roger Kahn burst onto the national scene in 1972 with his memorable bestseller, The Boys of Summer, memorializing the Brooklyn Dodgers. Here he wrote a book for the hearts and minds of his readers. Chronicling his own life, Into My Own is Kahn&’s reflection on the eight people who shaped him as a man, a father, and a writer.Into My Own is the touching memoir of an unassuming man, whose great love of baseball and literature led him into extraordinary experiences, opportunities, and friendships. Even amidst great family tragedy and personal difficulty, Kahn prevailed—amongst poets, writers, politicians, and most of all, ballplayers.&“In this engaging memoir, Kahn…looks back at baseball and much more as he presents his episodic reminiscences as free-form essays arranged loosely around iconic figures from his past…Kahn has a graceful, personal style, full of deftly evoked color and characters, with a bit of the newspaperman's hard-bitten swagger and a two-fisted liberalism one doesn't see much anymore.&”—Publishers Weekly Praise for Roger Kahn &“As a kid, I loved sports first and writing second, and loved everything Roger Kahn wrote. As an adult, I love writing first and sports second, and love Roger Kahn even more.&”—Pulitzer Prize winner, David Maraniss &“A work of high moral purpose and great poetic accomplishment. The finest American book on sports.&”—James Michener on The Boys of Summer &“Kahn has the almost unfair gift of easy, graceful writing.&”—Boston Herald
Into New Territory
by James G. MorganThe idea that the United States-a nation founded after a war of independence-operates as an imperialist power on the world stage has gained considerable traction since the turn of the twenty-first century. But just a few decades earlier, this position was considered radical and even "un-American. " How did this dramatic change come about? Tracing the emergence of the concept of US imperialism, James G. Morgan shows how radical and revisionist scholars in the 1950s and 1960s first challenged the paradigm of denying an American empire. As the Vietnam War created a critical flashpoint, bringing the idea of American imperialism into the US mainstream, radical students of the New Left turned toward Marxist critiques, admiring revolutionaries like Che Guevara. Simultaneously, a small school of revisionist scholars, led by historian William Appleman Williams at the University of Wisconsin, put forward a progressive, nuanced critique of American empire grounded in psychology, economics, and broader historical context. It is this more sophisticated strand of thinking, Morgan argues, which demonstrated that empire can be an effective analytical framework for studying US foreign policy, thus convincing American scholars to engage with the subject seriously for the first time. "
Into Siberia: George Kennan's Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia
by Gregory J. Wallance"In Wallance’s bracing narrative, Kennan emerges as a cheerful, deeply decent companion, an uncompromising observer whose greatest strength was his ability to change his mind. He’s a welcome change from the callous imperialists who people most Victorian travelogues, and his humanity allows Into Siberia to delve into horror without succumbing to despair." — The New York Times Book ReviewIn a book that ranks with the greatest adventure stories, Gregory Wallance’s Into Siberia is a thrilling work of history about one man’s harrowing journey and the light it shone on some of history’s most heinous human rights abuses.In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. All that changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and his eyes were opened to the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent. Over ten months Kennan traveled eight thousand miles, mostly in horse-drawn carriages, sleighs or on horseback. He endured suffocating sandstorms in the summer and blizzards in the winter. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on the fuel of inflicted pain and fear. Prisoners in the mines were chained day and night to their wheelbarrows as punishment. Babies in exile parties froze to death in their mothers’ arms. Kennan came to call the exiles’ experience in Siberia a “perfect hell of misery.” After returning to the United States, Kennan set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the exiles, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System. He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to describe the suffering of the Siberian exiles, intensifying the newly emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries which last to this day.
Into That Good Night
by Ron RozelleWhen his father began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease, Rozelle watched the man's painful transformation into a dependent and ultimately foreign person. In this haunting memoir, Into That Good Night, Rozelle recreates and reclaims the past for his father, offering a son's gift that will echo for a long time to come.
Into The Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown
by Angela ThirlwellMadox Brown, who grew up in France and Belgium before he came to England and won fame with paintings like 'The Last of England', was always an outsider, and the women he loved also burst out of stereotypes. His two wives, Elisabeth Bromley and Emma Hill, and his secret passions, the artist Marie Spartali and the author Mathilde Blind, were all remarkable personalities, from very different backgrounds.Their striving for self-expression, in an age that sought to suppress them, tells us much more about women's journey towards modern roles. Their lives - full of passion, sexual longing, tragedy and determination - take us from the English countryside and the artist's studio to a Europe in turmoil and revolution. These are not silent muses hidden in the shadow of a 'Master'. They step out of the shadows and into the picture, speaking with voices we can hear and understand.
Into The Western Winds: Pioneer Boys Traveling The Overland Trails
by Mary Barmeyer O'BrienThis book chronicles the overland journeys of nine pioneer boys who went west by covered wagon in the mid-1800s. Taken from their letters, diaries, and later memoirs, these remarkable stories describe what it was like to be hungry enough to eat woodpeckers, brave enough to winter alone in the snowbound Sierra Nevada, cold enough to huddle beneath a sister's petticoat at night, and tough enough to push onward despite astounding odds. Trudging barefoot across hundreds of miles of harsh land, each of the boys selected for this collection found the resourcefulness to rise above the unusual circumstances of his overland journey. Whether traveling alone through the vast wilderness to bring food to his starving family like fourteen-year-old Octavius Pringle, struggling for days across Death Valley like six-year-old John Wells Brier, or boating the treacherous rapids of the Columbia River like young Jesse Applegate, each summoned the courage to help his family complete a remarkable trip west.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Mount Everest Disaster (Sparknotes Literature Guide Ser.)
by Jon Krakauer#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. "A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." —PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. 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 that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that 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 includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that 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 that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most 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 conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish 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 once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."
Into Wild Mongolia
by George B. SchallerExplore the wonders of wild Mongolia through the eyes of a distinguished field biologist Mongolia became a satellite of the Soviet Union in the mid-1920s, and for nearly seven decades effectively closed its doors to the outside world. Biologist George Schaller initially visited the country in 1989, and was one of the first Western scientists allowed to study and assess the conservation status of Mongolia&’s many unique, native wildlife species. Schaller made a number of trips from 1989 to 2018 in collaboration with Mongolian and American scientists, witnessing Mongolia&’s recovery and transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This informative and fascinating new book provides a firsthand account of Schaller&’s time in this little-known and remote country, where he studied and helped develop conservation initiatives for the snow leopard, Gobi bear, wild camel, and Mongolian gazelle, among other species. Featuring magnificent photographs from his travels, the book offers a critical, at times inspiring contribution for those who treasure wildlife, as well as a fresh perspective on the natural beauty of the region, which encompasses steppes, mountains, and the Gobi Desert.