Perhaps, because [McCandless] came from a 'well-to-do' family, his experience elicited more coverage than might have been the case had he been some poor Joe, down on his luck, who wandered north in search of his destiny.

Maybe Krakaur should write a book about the guy who disappeared in Denali NP a couple of summers ago... searchers spent 6 days trying to find him and came up completely empty handed. Oh, but he didn't come from a wealthy family... sorry, I suppose he isn't a worthy subject.

It's true--they're on to me. I had wanted to write a book about dead young man in the wilderness for a long time, but I just couldn't find the right subject. Most of them were really poor, reportedly kinda smelly, and frankly not very attractive. Then I heard about Chris McCandless, and it was like striking gold: a wealthy kid, high-school athlete, white, knew how to read. I knew this stuff would pump up sales. I mean, twenty-four grand in his savings account--can you believe it?

Of course, I was a little worried at first about the downside. I mean the way McCandless gave all that money away to charity, and then ditched his car, and then burned the last little bit of his cash. Plus there was the whole philosophy thing, his Thoreauvian rejection of materialism, the Tolstoy-esque embrace of poverty and purity, his love and longing for the natural world. I thought readers might be turned off by all this stuff.

But it turns out readers don't even notice much of that. They pick up on what's important: McCandless was a rich kid, and that's why his story is worthy. I'm thinking of building a franchise around the concept. Like, "Rich Kids Gone Wild," except, you know, different.