"The first authorized biography of a great American novelist"--

This is a fictional tale of Jack, the dog who was a real-life friend to Jack London during the 1897 Yukon Gold Rush and the model for Buck in his 1903 book, Call of the wild. This story imagines what might have happened when Jack was left behind by Jack London, and what adventures he might have had.

Jack London has been a bestselling author for over one hundred years. In his short life (1876–1916), he wrote twenty-five novels, and dozens of short stories, plays, and essays. Today he is recognized as a forerunner of such literary giants as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Jack Kerouac. Author of a number of well-known, to say nothing of well-loved, stories in our literary canon (White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and The Sea Wolf, to name just three), London also worked as a day laborer, Alaskan gold rush prospector, and seaman. He was also an adventurer, journalist, celebrity, polemicist, and drunk. Illustrated throughout with drawings, facsimile pages from his works, and contemporary photographs, many taken by London himself, An Autobiography of Jack London is a revealing portrait of this complicated and fascinating man in his own words, and is largely composed of excerpts from his memoirs: The Road, John Barleycorn, and The Cruise of the Snark. More than a mere biographical summary of a man's life, An Autobiography of Jack London aims to give the reader real insight into the character and personality of this uniquely American literary icon.

The New York Times–bestselling classic set amid the mountains and streams of early twentieth-century Montana, “as beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway” (Chicago Tribune). When Norman Maclean sent the manuscript of A River Runs Through It and Other Stories to New York publishers, he received a slew of rejections. One editor, so the story goes, replied, “it has trees in it.” Today, the title novella is recognized as one of the great American tales of the twentieth century, and Maclean as one of the most beloved writers of our time. The finely distilled product of a long life of often surprising rapture—for fly-fishing, for the woods, for the interlocked beauty of life and art—A River Runs Through It has established itself as a classic of the American West filled with beautiful prose and understated emotional insights. Based on Maclean’s own experiences as a young man, the book’s two novellas and short story are set in the small towns and mountains of western Montana. It is a world populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, but also one rich in the pleasures of fly-fishing, logging, cribbage, and family. By turns raunchy and elegiac, these superb tales express, in Maclean’s own words, “a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by.” “Maclean’s book—acerbic, laconic, deadpan—rings out of a rich American tradition that includes Mark Twain, Kin Hubbard, Richard Bissell, Jean Shepherd, and Nelson Algren.” —New York Times Book Review Includes a new foreword by Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award–winning film adaptation

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.

Jack London’s stories of adventure in the early twentieth century captured the imagination of the American public. As he ventured around the United States and the globe, he documented his adventures through his writing. Through excerpts and critical analysis, readers will examine London’s most famous works (The Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire”), which are dramatic and compelling stories of man versus nature and versus himself. Other works explore the human condition, particularly the plight of the poor and working class. An examination of the autobiographical nature of many of London’s stories gives the reader a unique insight into the interaction between a writer’s world and his work.

Jack London (1876-1916), known for his naturalistic and mythic tales, remains among the most popular and influential American writers in the world. Jack London's Racial Lives offers the first full study of the enormously important issue of race in London's life and diverse works, whether set in the Klondike, Hawaii, or the South Seas or during the Russo-Japanese War, the Jack Johnson world heavyweight bouts, or the Mexican Revolution. Jeanne Campbell Reesman explores his choices of genre by analyzing racial content and purpose and judges his literary artistry against a standard of racial tolerance. Although he promoted white superiority in novels and nonfiction, London sharply satirized racism and meaningfully portrayed racial others--most often as protagonists--in his short fiction. Why the disparity? For London, racial and class identity were intertwined: his formation as an artist began with the mixed "heritage" of his family. His mother taught him racism, but he learned something different from his African American foster mother, Virginia Prentiss. Childhood poverty, shifting racial allegiances, and a "psychology of want" helped construct the many "houses" of race and identity he imagined. Reesman also examines London's socialism, his study of Darwin and Jung, and the illnesses he suffered in the South Seas. With new readings of The Call of the Wild, Martin Eden, and many other works, such as the explosive Pacific stories, Reesman reveals that London employed many of the same literary tropes of race used by African American writers of his period: the slave narrative, double-consciousness, the tragic mulatto, and ethnic diaspora. Hawaii seemed to inspire his most memorable visions of a common humanity.

Describes the experiences of a newcomer to the Yukon when he attempts to hike through the snow to reach a mining claim.

Burning Daylight by Jack London, first published in 1910, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.