Outside magazine, not Backpacker. And they didn't make him write it. And they didn't make him have enough interest to write a book.

And...your theory about the Devil's Thumb chapter is just wrong. It was not added as filler. It's taken (mostly) from an essay Krakauer had written prior to knowing anything about McCandless, but it's absolutely essential to the fabric of _ITW_.

You referred to Krakauer being a famous adventure author. The thing is, he wasn't known to anyone except a few magazine industry people (and fervent readers of Outside) until the whole ITW thing blew up.

You've said a few times that McCandless was mentally ill. What are you referring to? Do you mean a specific diagnosis or just like, "that guy was crazy"?