Jack London: An American Original

Buy Jack London: American Original: Read 2 Movies & TV Reviews - Amazon. com.
Table of contents

Through her books teenage readers can explore topics as varied as ghosts, robots, bacteria, evolution, women pioneers, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, and forensic crime solving. Over the course of her freelance writing career Rebecca has also published romance novels, celebrity biographies, reference works, and even a self-help book.

In addition, she has adapted the works of historian Howard Zinn, science writer Charles C. Mann, and ethnic studies pioneer Ronald Takaki for young audiences. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Academic Skip to main content.

Also Available As:

Choose your country or region Close. Ebook This title is available as an ebook. To purchase, visit your preferred ebook provider. I am very happy that I did. The life that Jack London lived was an amazing one. Amazing because he packed so much adventure, so much love for writing, so much love for animals, so much love for his wife into such a short life.

Jack London : American Original

This may sound like hyperbole but what a man. From the beginning, London longed to succeed. He had a lot going for him physically. He was handsome, he was strong from all of the hard labor he did and even though he was shy, he never allowed himself to be bullied. For him, to lose was not acceptable. He was not afraid to break the law in order to survive. But during the time he was growing up, in order to survive, you did what you had to do. Many of the situations he found himself in were places where human cruelty was the norm.

By the age of 22 he had worked as a child laborer in a factory, he was a professional oyster pirate, served time in prison for something he didn't do, ridden the rails as a hobo, worked as a sailor on a seal hunting schooner bound for Japan , marched as a soldier in an army of the unemployed for the betterment of the working man, and searched for gold in the Klondike.

He also became an alcoholic. As varied as his life was two things were a constant. They were his love of reading and writing. From then on he continued to write. At first, he was a failure with rejection notice after rejection notice. He even went back to high school to hone his writing skills. He wrote for the school news paper and was on the debating team.

But once he began writing about his experiences and those of the other Klondike veterans, his literary career took off. He vowed that every day he would write a minimum of words. Even though he might be abysmally ill from some tropical disease, he wrote.

His work ethic was astounding. London lived life fully which meant he spent a great deal of money. The more money he spent, the more he wrote. Not necessarily classics but "potboiler" stories that he sold to mass publications. With this penchant for earning money, he was living a contradiction. He was a proud socialist. That's why he marched with the army of the unemployed and lived for a year in London's notorious East End.

He wanted to showcase the plight of the poor. Charmain Kittredge, his second wife, became the love of his life as well as a match intellectually and physically. She even had boxing matches with him. During his marriage to Charmain, he went on one of the biggest adventures of his life. This trip was one of idyllic wanderings as well as terrifying circumstances. He returned from this trip as one of the most famous writers in America. He also returned with a myriad of tropical diseases. Over 40 years in the making, this biography is built solidly upon original research into the life of Jack London.

Well-known myths and fallacies are left behind leaving only the truth to shine through. Labor has striven for the utmost accuracy, revealing both the bright and dark sides of his subject. He very well may have, but the episode is NOT in this book because it could not be independently verified. That is the accuracy for which he has striven. London's life was as much of an adventure as any of his best books If there is one shortcoming to this biography, it is the limitation of space. Much interesting material had to be jettisoned in order to fit the work into the space allowed by the publishers.

Still, if you only read one biography of Jack London, this is the one it should be.

An American Original (Oxford Portraits)

You cannot choose a better one. See all 77 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published 4 months ago. Published 5 months ago.


  1. The Prince of Morning Bells.
  2. The Painters Workshop - Creative Composition & Design.
  3. Jack London.
  4. Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science.

Published 6 months ago. Combine it with Dick North's "Sailor on Snowshoes" Published 1 year ago. I still haven't finished it. Published on June 29, The story of Jack London's personal life Published on May 30, Published on April 19, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway.

Set up a giveaway. Customers who bought this item also bought. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. View or edit your browsing history. Get to Know Us.

This is quite simply the best biographical film about Jack London, using scholarly evidence, that has ever been produced. Read more This is quite simply the best biographical film about Jack London, using scholarly evidence, that has ever been produced. Many universities in the United States already have access to this fascinating film on kanopystreaming. If a school's library subscribes to Kanopy, then faculty and students can access the film without charge. Goldstein's elegant film gem is truly the definitive audiovisual biography of Jack London and a uniquely impressive addition to London's literary legacy within American Literature.

The film did a good job of capturing the spirit of Jack London and that of the times in which he lived. Sue Hobson's contribution to this film was significant and reflects her understanding of London's character.

Jack London : American Original | Kanopy

Philip J Klemmer MD. I read and reread these books enjoying the perils and adventures of the heroic Read more People often ask me how I became interested in Jack London. He died at the age of forty. I then went on to read essays , letters, news stories by him and biographies about him. The film never got made and I received the rights back. Jack was a leading journalist and photojournalist for the Hearst papers. Sue agreed to let me do a video interview with her and introduced me to her collaborator, Jeanne Reesman, another leading London scholar. My fascination with Jack London is not only due to his work, his personal philosophy or his thirst for life, but also due to the times he lived in.

The period between and closely parallels our times. The issues of the day were financial panics, exploitation by the robber barons, unemployment, child labor, homelessness, racism, immigration, the labor union movement and Socialism versus Capitalism. These issues need to be constantly explored, discussed and acted upon.

White Fang - Audiobook by Jack London

Jack was an eighth grade drop-out who lifted himself up by his own bootstraps to become the most popular, highest paid and most controversial author in the world; he still has a great deal to say to us today. It has taken me thirty years to make Jack London: American Original I hope people will enjoy the result.