What Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” Can Teach Us About the COVID-19 Pandemic and Why We May Be Doomed to Repeat It

Leigh E. Rich

Abstract Book chapter for the edited volume The Twenty-First Century and Its Discontents examining the novel coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. response through the lens of Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, and other memoirs written since.

Read the full chapter
Rich, Leigh E. 2020. Lessons from the death zone: What Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” can teach us about the COVID-19 pandemic and why we may be doomed to repeat it. In Jack Simmons (Ed.), The twenty-first century and its discontents: How changing discourse norms are changing culture (pp. 231–262). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.