Jon Krakauer Audiobooks

Jon Krakauer, born in 1954, is an American writer and mountaineer whose nonfiction has the grip of the best thrillers. He is the author of the bestsellers Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, alongside numerous magazine articles.

The defining event of his career came in 1996, when he was a member of an ill-fated expedition to summit Mount Everest – one of the deadliest disasters in the history of climbing the mountain. That experience became Into Thin Air, the book that made his name and set the standard for first-person disaster reportage: a writer reporting from inside the catastrophe rather than reconstructing it from a safe distance.

Krakauer’s prose is built for audio – urgent, exact and morally serious. Into Thin Air is the essential listen in our catalogue: his first-hand account of the 1996 Everest disaster, which remains harrowing precisely because he was there and spares nobody, least of all himself. Missoula shows the other side of his craft, the patient investigative reporter working through difficult material with rigour.

For UK listeners who think of mountaineering books as a niche interest, be assured: this is journalism of the highest order that happens to involve mountains. Once started, it is very hard to switch off.