Who is Christopher McCandless

Christopher Johnson McCandless (February 12, 1968 - mid-August, 1992) was an American wanderer who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude. Almost four months later, he died of starvation near Denali National Park and Preserve. Inspired by the details of McCandless's story, author Jon Krakauer wrote a book about his adventures, published in 1996, entitled Into the Wild. In 2007, Sean Penn directed a film of the same title, with Emile Hirsch portraying McCandless.

Into the Wild (1996) by Jon Krakauer is a bestselling non-fiction book about the adventures of Christopher McCandless. It is an expansion of Krakauer's 9,000-word article, "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside. Krakauer, Jon. Death of an Innocent: How Christopher McCandless Lost His Way in the Wilds. Outside Magazine, January, 1997. Retrieved September 1, 2007.. The book was adapted into a 2007 movie of the same name directed by Sean Penn with Emile Hirsch starring as McCandless.

McCandless died in a wilderness area in the state of Alaska. Krakauer suggested in the book that McCandless died of eating a wild potato root which had a poisonous fungus on it, leading to his starvation Bryson, George. [http://www.adn.com/intothewild/story/219344.html Theories differ on the cause of McCandless' death.] Anchorage Daily News, October 7, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2009.. After specimens around the bus where he died did not test positive for the toxin, Krakauer modified his theory to suggest that a mold that hinders digestion could be responsible; however, the official cause of McCandless's death is simply starvation.