Jack London
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Language
English
Description
Jack London was born into abject poverty in the slums of San Francisco during the winter of 1876. His writing was to reflect the hard life he lived, perpetually chronicling men facing the wild as he did throughout his life. After his eighth grade year, poverty forced London to leave school. This did not stop him, as he furthered his literary knowledge and skill at the Oakland Public Library, borrowing books and educating himself. London faced great...
2) The sea wolf
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English
Appears on list
Description
A thrilling epic of a sea voyage and a complex novel of ideas. The Sea Wolf is a standard-bearer of its genre. The vivid story of a gentleman scholar's rescue and subsequent ordeal at the hands of a hunting schooner's brutal captain and devious crew. It remains one of Jack London's finest achievements.
3) Martin Eden
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English
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The semiautobiographical story of an impoverished seaman who pursues, obsessively and aggressively, dreams of education and literary fame.
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English
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Featuring eight works of short fiction, South Sea Tales by Jack London is an adventurous collection with a nautical theme. With settings on islands or ships, South Sea Tales tell the exciting, but often heartbreaking tales of violence, colonialism, and racism. The House of Mapuhi follows the son of a trading magnate, who travels from island to island buying valuable items for his mother's business. When he learns of a brilliant pearl owned by one...
5) Before Adam
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English
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With dramatic and detailed first person narration, Jack London's Before Adam follows the dreams of a young boy who has a genetically imprinted memory and knowledge of an ancestor who lived in prehistoric times. Big Tooth is a pre-human ape and is the protagonist of the young boy's dreams. He lives in a tribe that rests in the middle of two extremes. In the surrounding area, there are tribes of differing levels of development. One is primitive and...
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English
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Wrestling with the disease of alcoholism for most of his life, Jack London tells all in his autobiography John Barleycorn. Beginning with a discussion of the prohibition movement and its effects, London explores the ways that alcohol affects daily life in the Victorian era. Because there were not many forms of affordable entertainment or reliable communication, bars were the perfect spot for social activity. People were able to sit and drink, enjoying...
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English
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"Set in the future, “The Iron Heel” describes a world in which the division between the classes has deepened, creating a powerful Oligarchy that retains control through terror. A manuscript by rebel Avis Everhard is recovered in an even more distant future, and analyzed by scholar Anthony Meredith. Published in 1908, Jack London's multi-layered narrative is an early example of the dystopian novel, and its vision of the future proved to be eerily...
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English
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The People of the Abyss (1903) is a work of nonfiction by American writer Jack London. Written after the author spent three months living in London's poverty-stricken East End, The People of the Abyss bears witness to the difficulties faced by hundreds and thousands of people every day in one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Inspired by Friedrich Engels's The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) and Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives,...
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English
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Jack London gained his first and most lasting fame as the author of tales of the Klondike gold rush. This, his first collection of stories, draws on his experience in the Yukon. The stories tell of gambles won and lost, of endurance and sacrifice, and often turn on the qualities of exceptional women and on the relations between the white adventurers and the native tribes. Stories included are: - The White Silence- The Son of the Wolf - The Men of...
10) Burning Daylight
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English
Description
Elam Harnish has more money than he would ever need. As he accumulates wealth as a successful entrepreneur in the Alaskan Gold Rush, Harnish must face the challenges of the Yukon Territory. After he makes a fortune, Harnish finds himself still unsatisfied. In efforts to find a new challenge and make more money, Harnish decides to move down to the mainland of America, settling in California. However, after a group of money kings threaten to take his...
11) Smoke Bellew
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English
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From the author of the classic novel Call of the Wild, Jack London's Smoke Bellew features a vivacious depiction of a gold rush adventure. Christopher Bellew, more commonly known as Kit, lives a comfortable life in San Francisco. He writes daily for a paper and his inherited wealth promises to keep him well-off for a long while. Still, Kit cannot help but feel complacent. As a young man, he has not completely figured out what he really wants in life....
12) Adventure
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English
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This antiquarian book contains Jack London's 1911 novel, "Adventure". It tells the story of the relationship between a man who finds himself harassed by a group of cannibals on a plantation and a fierce, independent, and liberated woman who arrives at the plantation and changes everything. It is a hard-hitting exploration of slavery and colonialism set on the Solomon Islands, and was the cause of much controversy. An interesting and thought-provoking...
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English
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This collection of short stories shows the adventures and misadventures of the "children" alluded in the title: members of several Native-American tribes of the Canadian Arctic, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the XXth Century, on the backdrop of the Klondike Gold Rush amidst a harsh, unforgiving, Darwinian (red in tooth and claw indeed) Nature. The inevitable clash of civilisations brought by the coming of the gold-seeking "Sunlanders"...
14) The Game
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English
Description
"The Game" is a 1905 novel by Jack London that tells the story of Joe, a twenty-year-old man who participates in boxing matches to make some extra money for his family. Engaged to be married, he resolves to give up his pugilistic career, but only after one last match-a match that would be his last whether he wanted it to be or not. The story is told from the point of view of his fiancé, Genevieve. John Griffith London (1876 – 1916), commonly known...
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English
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"Tales of the Fish Patrol" is a collection of seven short stories written by Jack London. Based on his own experiences, London harks back at his teenager years spent aboard various fishing boats in San Francisco Bay during the early 1900s. At the time, the waters contained rich oyster beds, and people of all ages and creeds descended upon them for profit. Jack was one of these oyster pirates, but later had a change of conscience and become a member...
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The Cruise of the Snark (1911) is a work of travel literature by American writer Jack London. In 1906, after achieving early success as an author of novels and short stories, London began dreaming of the adventures of his youth. Inspired, he spent a fortune to build a 45-foot yacht complete with two sails and a 70-horsepower engine, powerful enough to carry him across the Pacific. Envisioning a seven-year journey, London and his wife Charmian set...
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English
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Love of Life and Other Stories (1906) is a collection of short stories by American writer Jack London. Containing eight stories by the author, a master of literary Naturalism and an experienced outdoorsman and adventurer, Love of Life and Other Stories explores the experience of humanity on the edge of civilization. Set mostly in Canada and Alaska, these stories follow characters for whom survival is a constant struggle, for whom death is as familiar...
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English
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The Valley of the Moon (1913) is a novel by American writer Jack London. Inspired by his experiences as a working-class man and dedicated socialist, London incorporates aspects of his own biography-his interest in sailing, his life on a ranch in Sonoma County-to tell a story of hardship, hope, and perseverance. Having grown disillusioned with the labor movement, London uses the novel to advocate for sustainable agriculture and other alternatives to...
19) The Faith of Men
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English
Description
Though best known for the novel The Call of the Wild, American author and activist Jack London was also a prolific short story writer. The Faith of Men is a tale packed with twists and turns that follows two wealthy friends as they navigate the challenges of love, life, and the great outdoors.
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English
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Though most of Jack London's novels and short stories fall firmly into the action-adventure category, the prolific author occasionally ventured into other genres, as well. Although The Red One, like many of London's tales, is set among an indigenous tribe, the story—which details the discovery of a strange object of worship which seems to have originated in another world—contains some fascinating themes that will please fans
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