Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
No horse, no driver, no plowman, nothing but the farmer to crank the tractor and start it on its way, Dick exulted, as the uncanny mechanism turned up the brown soil and continued unguided, ever spiraling toward the field's center. "Plow, harrow, roll, seed, fertilize, cultivate, harvest--all from the front porch. And where the farmer can buy juice from a power company, all he, or his wife, will have to do is press the button, and he to his newspaper, and she to her pie-crust." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Please read it!
Very good book - and typically for Jack London it is about strong people and strong feelings. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
"All ready, Miss Welse, though I'm sorry we can't spare one of the steamer's boats."Frona Welse arose with alacrity and came to the first officer's side."We're so busy," he explained, "and gold-rushers are such perishable freight, at least -""I understand," she interrupted, "and I, too, am behaving as though I were perishable. And I am sorry for the trouble I am giving you, but - but -" She turned quickly and pointed to the shore. "Do you see that big log-house? Between the clump of pines and the river? I was born there." ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Subienkow looked on, and shuddered. He was not afraid to die. He had carried his life too long in his hands, on that weary trail from Warsaw to Nulato, to shudder at mere dying. But he objected to the torture. It offended his soul. And this offence, in turn, was not due to the mere pain he must endure, but to the sorry spectacle the pain would make of him. (collection includes To Build a Fire). ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The bell had hardly rung, sending the labourers into the fields, when Sheldon had a visitor. He had had the couch taken out on the veranda, and he was lying on it when the canoes paddled in and hauled out on the beach. Forty men, armed with spears, bows and arrows, and war-clubs, gathered outside the gate of the compound, but only one entered. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Of the fish patrolmen under whom we served at various times, Charley Le Grant and I were agreed, I think, that Neil Partington was the best. He was neither dishonest nor cowardly; and while he demanded strict obedience when we were under his orders, at the same time our relations were those of easy comradeship, and he permitted us a freedom to which we were ordinarily unaccustomed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

fish patrol
This is a good book! It will appeal to anyone that is a fan of fishing, or sailing or the San Francisco Bay area for that matter.In the early 1900's, young Jack pursues poachers in several short storys that are often funny and sometimes hair-raising! The characters are colorful and full of mischief. Without motors on their boats and the power of the sail only, it's easy to get caught up in the early day version of the car chase as Jack chases one criminal after another. Great adventure! ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Jack London became one of the most famous and successful authors of his day with the publication of his vastly popular novels The Call of the Wild and The Sea-Wolf. Over his brief life of forty years, he wrote at least fifty books, while pursuing a host of other careers as adventurer, sailor, prospector, explorer, journalist, war correspondent, sociologist, and rancher--careers that often diverted attention from, and even eclipsed, his achievements as a writer. In fact, for several decades after his death, scholars uniformly dismissed London's writings either as second-rate hack work or as adventure and animal stories for juveniles.
Today, more than a century after London's initial literary successes, this volume offers insightful studies and analyses of the author and his works. These studies not only build on previous scholarship but also provide new interpretations, thus extending even further our understanding of the author's stories and novels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent, up to date essays
Hodson and Reesman have put together an exciting collection of new essays on London. I learned from every one of them.The introduction is great and I especially liked the group of essays on MARTIN EDEN.It's also a beautifully made book by the Huntington Library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

JACK LONDON SAILOR ON HORSEBACK
I FIRST READ THIS BOOK IN 1975 GIVEN TO ME BY JACK LONDONS OLDEST FAN. HE READ EVERYTHING BY LONDON MANY TIMES.HE READ ALL THE BIOS ON LONDON AND SAID THIS WAS THE BEST.THIS MAN SPIDER ROCHE GAVE ME THE BIO TO READ AND I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN.IF YOU WANT TO KNOW JACK LONDON THIS IS THE BEST BIOGRAPHY ON THE MAN.HIS LIFE RAN THE GAMUT. IT ENDS SADLY. READ THIS BOOK.I HAVE SEARCHED FOR THIS BOOK TO BE IN MY LIBRARY SO I CAN ALWAYS GO TO IT WHEN I FEEL THE NEED.THANK YOU MR.STONE.

One of the Best Biographies Ever Written
It took me some time to track down this book, but I had heard that it was the best Jack London biography out there, and it is that and a whole lot more. Irving Stone writes a very easily readable book in which he takes a deep look at the life and character of an amazing man. I read it once in a night, I'm reading it again, and don't think it'll ever make it back to the bookcase for more than a week! ... Read more

Book Description
This study examines the works of this naturalist writer, best known for The Call of the Wild. Producer of nearly 200 short stories, his writing ranged in topic from the Gold Rush to science fiction. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Alex Kershaw plunges readers into the world of Jack London by using lots of direct quotations and maintaining a fast-paced narrative--just right for dealing with an author who crammed as much action into his brief, 40-year existence (1876-1916) as can be found in his classic adventure fiction The Call of theWild. Kershaw does justice to London's ardent socialism and pioneering efforts to protect the natural environment; his distasteful racism is acknowledged, but only briefly. This heartfelt tribute aims to kindle our admiration for "the passion and energy with which [London] lived, and which still sustains his best prose." Book Description
Raised in poverty as an illegitimate child, Jack London dropped out of school to support his mother, working in mind-deadening jobs that would foster a lifelong interest in socialism. Brilliant and self-taught, he haunted California's waterside bars, brawling with drunken sailors and learning about love from prostitutes. His lust for adventure took him from the beaches of Hawaii to the gold fields of Alaska, where he experienced firsthand the struggles for survival he would later immortalize in classics like White Fang and The Call of the Wild.A hard-drinking womanizer with children to support, Jack London was no stranger to passion when he met and married Charmian Kittredge, the love of his life. Despite his adventurous past, London had never before met a woman like Charmian; she adored fornication and boxing, and willingly risked life and limb to sail and explore. She typed his manuscripts while he churned out novels, serving as his inspiration and his critic.Lover, fighter, and onetime hobo, Jack London lived large and died before he was forty. This is a rare biography that proves the truth can be more fascinating--and a far greater adventure--than a fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Lively but not definitive
It would appear that others have read previous London biographies and that Kershaw's work doesn't tread any new ground. I will have to take the word of the many reviewers who have stated this. That said, since this is my first Jack London biography I will review it accordingly.

Alex Kershaw does a sufficient job of describing Jack London's early life of poverty, struggle and devotion to unleashing his creative vision. His exploits on the docks, pubs and back alleys of San Francisco are documented in lively, rough fashion. Jack's wanderlust and exploits to the North are likewise given adequate treatment as are his years as a "success." In fact, for the entirety of the book we are given a good overview of the many stages of Jack's brief but fascinating life; adventures, friendships, loves, fatherhood, etc. What's missing however, is a more intensive look at the man himself. Jack's alcoholic rages, absentee roll as a father, proto National Socialism, gluttony, mood wings, regrets, emotional exhaustion, depression and realization of mortality and many, many contradictions are given superficial treatment in the beginning and middle stages of the autobiography. It's almost as if Kershaw is willing to skim over many aspects of London's personality because Jack's genius as a writer overshadowed whatever shortcomings or riddles he possessed as a man. The problem is however, as any fan of London's work will tell you, Jack is the literature and the literature is Jack. Very few writers were able to inject themselves quite so thoroughly into their work as Jack London. His presence smothers every page of his work. It's not until the end that Kershaw begins to thoroughly explore Jack London's psyche. As Kershaw clearly points out, Jack associated his physical prowess with his creative drive. The two were linked. If the body was iron, the mind was steel. For the majority of Jack's young life his body was robust, his mind Nietzschean in its discipline and resolve. As he approached the age of forty however, a still-young Jack was beset by disease and the failure of the corporeal. His vitality and energy slowly gave way to impotence and lethargy (and increasingly an inwardly-directed rage). His spirit began to collapse. Indeed, even his financial and material landscape served as a metaphor. As his kingdom crumbled, so too did the king's life force slowly ebb away. Kershaw poignantly describes Jack's slow descent and it is here that the autobiography does good service to the memory of Jack London.

Jack London A Life will give first time biography readers a good overview of Jack London; the timeline is easy to follow and Kershaw, perhaps adopting Jack's invigorating, descriptive writing style, pens the biography in a fashion that London himself would have appreciated.

Yet another error in the book
In his brief treatment of London's last novel, "The Star Rover," Mr. Kershaw describes several of the "past lives" the main character narrates. He describes one as, "a wagon boy who is killed by Indians." (p. 258)

In fact, in this episode the boy is a victim of the rather infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre and he is murdered by the Mormons who perpetrated this treachery.

Kershaw's mistake is even more problematic when one remembers the history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre: that some of the Mormon attackers were disguised as Indians, and that the cover-up story concocted by the murders and later followed by Mormon historians blamed the entire event on the Indians.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 is a fascinating bit of Western history in itself and also because of the intense amount of public relations spin the LDS church still devotes to white washing this piece of their dirty laundry. That London was even writing about the event in 1915 is rather remarkable...

Poor research?
I wonder how accurate the rest of the book is when the author, Mr. Kershaw, did not care to notice that Dawson City, the Klondike, and surrounding region are not in Alaska but well inside Canada. He makes these erroneous references often.

It sucked
It was so terrible, it made me want to kill myself

read it before you buy any other book
A brilliant book because it captures the magic of London's life and reads as if he had written the book himself - fantastic stuff, and the academics should take note - this is how you bring a man and writer alive, not kill him with turgif analysis and prose. London would be proud. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Swindle!
Well - commanded "The complete short stories"; receved only 3th volume - Let me guess, what do you think about? - A swindle?

Pricey, but worth it.
I finally bought the thing.I've been stalling and stallingfor years.All I can say is, if you like Jack London, the set is worth it.It contains 197 stories (by my count; oddly enough I couldn't find this statistic in the blurb or the introduction). ...

I think Jack London is at his best in his short stories.NONE of his novels are QUITE first-rate, and as you explore beyond the famous ones the quality falls off rapidly.Most of his less-well-known novels are deservedly forgotten. ("The Little Lady of the Big Hous e-- EEeeeeeewwwww!")

This is not true of his stories. When you explore beyond the couple of dozen that are anthologized, you discover treasures.I am finding that many of the stories I don't know are every bit as good as those I know.

One of my recent "discoveries" is a story entitled "The Banks of the Sacramento." It's not deep, it's not portentous, it's not Great Literature--it's just a superbly constructed little gem of a suspense story* that concerns a fourteen-year-old boy who conducts a daring rescue of--well, read it.Aloud, in company, if possible.

There are, as you'd expect, some curiosities, some juvenalia, some outright bad stories, but not enough to dilute the collection.And of course even these have their interest."The Handsome Cabin Boy" is not a very good story, but it certainly is another piece in the puzzle of Jack London's sexuality.

Look, if you've bought more than three collections of Jack London stories, you know you're going to buy them all eventually--so why mess around?

These are, as you'd darn well expect at the price, nicely printed, sturdy volumes.They are intended for, and meet, both the needs of general readers and scholars seeking accurate texts.One annoying peculiarity is that an alphabetical list of story titles appears only at the end of the third volume.

These volumes are, alas, priced on the self-fulfilling assumption that they will be bought only by libraries, and your library is probably where you will go for them.(Interlibrary loans are a wonderful thing; be sure to ask about them if your library does not have these volumes). ....END ... Read more

Book Description
Fiction        U.S.A. $7.95
Canada $10.95

To this day Jack London is the most widely read American writer in the world," E. L. Doctorow wrote in The New York Times Book Review. Generally considered to be London's greatest achievement, The Call of the Wild brought him international acclaim when it was published in 1903. His story of the dog Buck, who learns to survive in the bleak Yukon wilderness, is viewed by many as his symbolic autobiography. "No other popular writer of his time did any better writing than you will find in The Call of the Wild," said H. L. Mencken. "Here, indeed, are all the elements of sound fiction."
        White Fang (1906), which London conceived as a "complete antithesis and companion piece to The Call of the Wild," is the tale of an abused wolf-dog tamed by exposure to civilization. Also included in this volume is "To Build a Fire," a marvelously desolate short story set in the Klondike, but containing all the elements of a classic Greek tragedy.
        "The quintessential Jack London is in the on-rushing compulsive-ness of his northern stories," noted James Dickey. "Few men have more convincingly examined the connection between the creative powers of the individual writer and the unconscious drive to breed and to survive, found in the natural world. . . . London is in and committed to his creations to a degree very nearly unparalleled in the composition of fiction."Download Description
Generally considered to be London's greatest achievement, The Call of the Wild brought him international acclaim when it was published in 1903. His story of the dog Buck, who learns to survive in the bleak Yukon wilderness, is viewed by many as his symbolic autobiography. White Fang (1906), which London conceived as a "complete antithesis and companion piece to The Call of the Wild," is the tale of an abused wolf-dog tamed by exposure to civilization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Jack London's Finest Fictional Work (?)
These three stories are amongst London's best fictional works- some say they *are* the best, especially, "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang", it all depends on one's taste, of course, but rest assured, these stories are gripping and the intrigue of their moving plots keeps one glued to the book.

As a freind once said of "Call..." and "...Fang": "These are just about the two doggone best [canine] stories I have ever had the pleasure to read!". Indeed.

All three stories are set in Alaska during the gold rush days of the late 1800's and London spent time there to absorb the feeling of this beautiful, but unforgiving land. He is so descriptive of the landscape, one feels like they are there themselves. This is the magic of London's writing- he so expertly drops the reader right into the scenery and the characters. Indeed, we see and feel what they see and feel- even the animals- especially, the animals, for they have personalities that engage and create both sympathy and admirationfor their trials, tribulations and triumphs. London is one of those that the measure of literary genius is judged by and taking in just about any of his works will demonstrate why.

The basic storyline of the "The Call of the Wild" has a dog named "Buck" who is living in a comfortable setting in California, suddenly yanked away by black-market dog thieves who are selling them to the ravenous needs of the gold prospector's supply market where they are then pressed into the tortuous dogsled industry. Buck eventually gets free and joins his native soul-brothers, the wolves. From the human world back to his ancestral roots, hence, the calling of the wild instinct.

"White Fang" is the antithesis ofBuck`s situation: a wolf pup raised partly by Indians, wolves, and eventually being absorbed all the way into the human world... you guessed it, in California where he settles into the same basic comfortable world that Buck was torn from. The tale of how that turn-of-events happens is as engaging as Buck's story.

"To Build A Fire" is a very short read and describes a man and the unforgiving, harsh winter of the Alaskan outback. He finds himself trapped by an intense snow storm and soon realizes that this normally easy trek is turning dangerous. What will happen? London skillfully gives us the psychological drama of harsh realities setting in.

For those that have not yet taken in any of London's work, this book is a good place to start. One might then want to take in more, including London's non-fictional work.

Call of the Wild
I thougth that it was a good book. There is some good action in it but at the same time its a very sad book. Although the character is a dog you can relate to him how he is a outcast and no one likes him to learning the way of the wild and becoming a good sled dog. He is a fast learner to the law of club and fang and is a strong leader. This was a good book with a great ending and i would suggest reading it.

Tim's Book Review For White Fang
The book White Fang was about a wolf-dog that lived with his
owner.Then one day his master got drunk by drinking and his master
sold him to a mean man.

Three classics in one!
I remember reading "To Build a Fire" in school in eighth grade.It is a fairly short story about a man travelling in extremely cold conditions who falls in a creek and, in order to stay alive, has to build afire.It by itself is a great story, but along with "White Fang"and "The Call of the Wild," this is just an excellent book foranyone who likes life and death struggles and, well, dogs and wolves. ... Read more