John Barleycorn; Or, Alcoholic Memoirs [Hardcover]

Jack London (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0837604230 | ISBN-13: 978-0837604237 | Publication Date: June 1978

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Robert Bentley Publishers (June 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0837604230
• ISBN-13: 978-0837604237
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,617,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Uniquely Candid Autobiography, November 25, 2001

By 

Linda Hepworth "Avid Mystery Reader" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Barleycorn: or, Alcoholic Memoirs (A Signet classic) (Paperback)

Following the worst of London's alcoholic periods he wrote this autobiography beginning with his first taste of alcohol, his first experience at being drunk,and his first hangover-all at the age of five. London went on to "earn his manhood spurs" through hard drinking at the steamy waterfront bars on the San Francisco Bay. Claiming never to have acquired a taste for the stuff, London stresses the important role of the saloon in cultivating alcoholism in young men. He brings to vivid life the romantic allure of a place full of sailors with names like Whiskey Bob, whose stories of 'round-the-world journeys, barroom brawls, and dangerous sea adventures mingled with the "comaraderie of drink." At once a highly personal work of intense emotional power and an unsparing social commentary on the evils of drink, this masterpiece of autobiographical literature first stunned a world audience in 1913, and today continues to strike a resounding contemporary note.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars London's unsparing look at the lure (and danger) of alcohol, May 25, 2004

By 

M. Bromberg "BellemeadeBooks" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Barleycorn: or, Alcoholic Memoirs (A Signet classic) (Paperback)

The novelist and adventurer Jack London was an alcoholic at an early age. This colorful memoir -- one of the first in America to treat the issue of alcohol abuse -- was written to encourage the prohibition efforts of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. London does condemn the overuse of alcohol, but his barroom tales make an equally strong case for its allure. The emphasis London places on the reasons why people drink, and drink to excess, fills this book with exciting characters and locales -- "the cameraderie of drink" is London's own phrase, as another reviewer notes. This personal revelation by one of America's premier adventure writers must have been shocking to a nation that viewed its drunks with a fairly tolerant eye. It is certainly an important book for those interested in the literature of alcohol abuse in this country.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shame on Amazon..., September 14, 2010

By 

the watchman (SILVER SPRING, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Barleycorn, Or, Alcoholic Memoirs (Paperback)

...for continuing to sell these wretched "General Books LLC" editions. For those who don't know, these are optically scanned uncorrected (in other words, riddled with errors, sometimes to the point of unreadability) OCR editions of books that are available online at no cost in much more readable pdf. To make matters worse, they usually cost more than pefectly good typeset real books. Don't waste your time or money on this dreck. Why, Amazon, why?