Short Synopsis
From noted Jack London scholar Earle Labor, a revelatory look at the life of the great American author—and how it shaped his most beloved works.

Full Synopsis
Jack London was born a working class, fatherless Californian in 1876. In his youth, he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling West Coast—an oyster pirate, a hobo, a sailor, and a prospector by turns. He spent his brief life rapidly accumulating the experiences that would inform his acclaimed bestselling books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf.

The bare outlines of his story suggest a classic rags-to-riches tale, but London the man was plagued by contradictions. He chronicled nature at its most savage but wept helplessly at the deaths of his favorite animals. At his peak the highest paid writer in the United States, he was nevertheless forced to work under constant pressure for money. An irrepressibly optimistic crusader for social justice and a lover of humanity, he was also subject to spells of bitter invective, especially as his health declined. Branded by shortsighted critics as little more than a hack who produced a couple of memorable dog stories, he left behind a voluminous literary legacy, much of it ripe for rediscovery.

In Jack London: An American Life, the noted Jack London scholar Earle Labor explores the brilliant and complicated novelist lost behind the myth—at once a hard-living globe-trotter and a man alive with ideas whose passion for seeking new worlds to explore never waned until the day he died. Returning London to his proper place in the American pantheon, Labor resurrects a major American novelist in his full fire and glory.

"More than 20 biographies have been written about London, but this volume promises to be one of the best for those who have read London's books but know less about his life." ---Library Journal Starred Review

"This engrossing biography paints a sympathetic (though not uncritical) portrait of London's dynamic ambition and energy." ---Publishers Weekly

"At long last, Jack London gets the authoritative biography he so richly deserves." ---Douglas Brinkley, author of Cronkite

"Michael Prichard's fittingly gruff voice evokes Jack London's life of adventure in this biography that details the author's exploits and escapades." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"As Earle Labor notes in his preface to this comprehensive biography, Jack London is a man who, nearly a century after his death, still looms large in the American imagination. Labor seeks to illuminate, or in some cases even dispel, some of the myths surrounding this literary genius." ---SFF Audio

"Prichard's pacing and diction allow us to hear each word clearly." ---AudioFile

Library Journal Review

Booklist Bestseller