Jon Krakauer takes on campus rape in new book

Jocelyn McClurg | USA TODAY

Best-selling author Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild) is taking on the controversial topic of campus rape in his new book, due on April 21.

Doubleday announced Monday it will release the non-fiction work, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. The book will recount a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana.

According to a news release, Krakauer decided to write the book "after learning that a young woman with whom he and his wife have a close relationship suffered intensely in secret for many years after she was raped by a man she trusted."

In a statement, the writer said: "I was angry with myself for being so uninformed not only about her ordeal but about non-stranger rape in general. I responded by doing a lot of reading, and seeking out rape survivors who were willing to share their stories. The more I listened to these women, the more disturbed I became."

Krakauer's other best-selling non-fiction books include Under the Banner of Heaven, which examined Mormon fundamendalists. His best-known book is Into Thin Air, a harrowing account of a deadly disaster on Mt. Everest.

The issue of campus rape is a complicated one; Rolling Stone magazine had to retract a story late last year of an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house.