The Way Out: A True Story of Survival

The Way Out: A True Story of Survival by Childs, Craig. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780316610667.

In this taut, intensely dramatic narrative--the record of a perilous excursion into the wild--two men confront immutable forces of nature and the limits of their own sanity. Craig Childs is lost. In a labyrinth of canyons in the American Southwest where virtually nothing else is alive--barely any vegetation, few signs of wildlife, scant traces of any human precursors in this landscape--Childs and his friend Dirk undertake a fortnights journey. With as much food and gear as they can carry, and little else but their wiles to help them traverse the inhospitable, unmappable terrain, the two men assume the life-or-death challenge of exploring this land--and then finding a way out. Equally gripping as their adventure in the wild is the parallel story, told in flashback, of what propelled the two men into these extreme circumstances. In scenes that crackle with tension and suspense--recollections of barroom brawls, high-speed car chases, and reckless feats of risk taking--we discover the surprising legacy of violence that each man is escaping.