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Wolf: The Lives of Jack London

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This is a most informative and very well written biography of Jack London. Who would believe that Jack London could have so many "careers" in his short life: day laborer, student, navigator, sailor, prospector, hobo, war correspondent, author, rancher! It is captivating to see how London, the socialist, fought unbridled capitalism in his lectures and writings. Generally, the chapters fly by as one reads of London's struggles to make ends meet, to be faithful to his friends, to make the right financial decisions, and to be flexible to the challenges that circumstances and publishers might throw his way. One memory that I cherish is that of London writing 1,000 words in the morning each day. What a goal for all authors!

This book is an interesting biography that ties together the threads of his writing and the personal inspirations for his writings, the arc of how he got from "Wage Beast" 10 cents an hour shoving coal to one of the most celebrated writers of his age, traveling widely, and owning a large ranch in Somona. It covers his ties and beliefs about socialism, his problems with drinking, the relationships with the women in his life. It provides background on lesser known works by London.

Jack London is a local hero in the San Francisco area and known for his boys' adventure tales, like Call of the Wild. But he was more complex than that. Like Hemingway and Kerouac who followed him, the beginning is filled with turmoil and adventure, the ending filled with loss and physical decline.

Greatly enjoyed this latest and best biography of one of America's great writers. American boys of my generation came of age reading CALL OF THE WILD and WHITE FANG, both of which I adored as a child, and yet in all of my fifty-some-odd years, I'd never bothered to learn much about Jack London the man. Mr. Haley's book beautifully captures the life of this enigmatic, brilliant, courageous, and, utlimately doomed man. My heart ached at the depiction of London's bleak, bleary youth--what in today's parlance we'd term "abusive" to the point it was criminal. And yet, he soldiered through impossible circumstances to educate himself, and even more, teach himself to be a professional writer. He would accomplish that feat at an early age, and quickly rise to be America's most successful, prolific, and famous writer of his day. James Haley writes of Jack London's live with resonate faith, clarity, skill, and assurance. I greatly enjoyed this book.

Haley does a very good job in describing and contextualizing London's dismal infancy, in the late nineteenth-century, a time of brutish labor exploitation and lack of opportunities.

His mother, Flora, having being abandoned by his father when she informed her pregnancy, London was for some time raised by his black wet nurse. Flora later married John London, a partially disabled veteran of the Civil War who did his best to provide for the family, but was endlessly dragged down by her gambling and financial binges, which led the family to face ever increasing poverty.

This background frames London's incredible early life, in which he repeatedly worked gruesome schedules as an a-dime-an-hour "Work Beast", taught himself to sail in order to become an oyster pirate, switched to deputy patrolman in the California Fish Patrol, served as seaman in a ship sealing off the coast of Japan, travelled the country as a tramp, was jailed, and, finally, joined the Klondike gold rush.

These experiences certainly shaped his lifelong socialist political views, and probably also his amazing one-thousand-words-a-day working discipline, which made his twenty-years writing career one of the most prolific ever.

The book is almost strictly biographical, with few comments on the man's vast oeuvre.

A well written biography of the boy who never experienced the youthful years, of the young man who was demanded to provide for a mother who was so self involved that she had no time to waste on being a mother. The young man who experienced the adventures of men and adventures of those who explore for discovering new continents.

This book is so well written that you will think that you are reading one of Jack London's novels. You will almost experience the travels and experiences that Jack London actually traveled into. You will feel some of his feelings, and understand the sadness of his life.

A must read for all of those who want to discover Jack London the boy, the young man who really never grew up and Jack London the author. Meet his true love, Charmian, the lady who understood him and sacrificed for him.

A must read for the Jack London scholars who want more than a top view of this author who made himself into whatnhe became.

I knew Jack London was that Call of the Wild writer, but that's it. Jack London was so much more. This is an incredible read, both facinating and amazing. What an acurate subtitle: The Lives of Jack London. He lived more life and adventure before he came of age than most of us do in an entire lifetime.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. The audio version of the book is fantastic as well. It is narrated by Bronson Pinchot and he does a superb job.

Jack London, the man who several years before Mark Twain's death unseated Twain to become America's favorite author, was a man of contrasts. Illegitimately born into a poverty stricken environment, for much of his adult life London would employ a full domestic staff, including a personal valet. Even as an avowed and outspoken advocate of socialism, he saw nothing wrong with living the luxurious lifestyle his personal labor eventually earned him. He was a staunch defender of the rights of "native peoples" but is said to have been a "racialist," believing that no good would come from a mixing of the races.

London's era was one still very much influenced by the sexual mores of the Victorian Age but he was always sexually active, even when married, and made little effort to explain his actions to either of his wives. He enjoyed the company of children but was never close to the two daughters he fathered by his first wife, allowing them effectively to slip out of his life. Those who knew him considered London a "spiritual" man, but he detested the way that religion helped maintain what he saw as an illegitimate and unjust society and considered himself an atheist. He was capable of superb writing but was willing to do as much "hackwork" as it took to support his lifestyle.

Even in death, London was a mystery. That he died in his sleep at age 40 is not disputed; the cause of his death, however, is still open to discussion. Did London die of an accidental overdose of morphine or, as many suspect, was he so depressed that he decided to take his own life that night. He was known to be upset about his health and the shape he was in but adamantly refused to change the lifestyle that was rapidly killing him. Even had he not died as he did, it is unlikely that Jack London would ever have seen his fifties.

All of this is explored in Wolf: The Lives of Jack London, James Haley's recent Jack London biography. Hayley approaches London's life by dividing it into segments based on the various occupations that occupied him during his 40 years. Those occupations range from what London called "work beast" (when, as a youth, he worked in places such as a pickle factory for ten cents an hour) to pirate, seal hunter, hobo, student, gold prospector, writer, muckraker, war correspondent, sailor and rancher. Each of these jobs is given its own chapter treatment; other chapters include those on London the "lover" and London the "celebrity."

Haley's technique works well to explain how Jack London managed to reinvent himself as a world-class author. This approach also puts a human face on a man who has too often in the past been stereotyped simply as a socialist/communist who happened to write very good novels or as a man's man who traveled to the wilds of Alaska and the South Seas in search of new topics for his books. The real Jack London, as it turns out was more motivated by finding a way to make a living with his mind rather than his back than by anything else. That he succeeded to such a degree is a tale resembling those stories that so enthralled London himself as a young reader in San Francisco.

The odds were heavily against Jack London, but he made it. James Haley tells how London did it in a very readable, and memorable, biography that is sure to please fans of literary biography.

"Wolf: The Lives of Jack London" is a powerful biography of one of America's foremost writers. While the Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen/Sonoma Valley is slated for closure this coming year, this book unleashes his contradictory, riveting life story. The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed Jack London "The Boy Socialist of Oakland"-interestingly, the site where he gave speeches when he ran as the socialist candidate for mayor-is now Frank Ogawa Plaza/Oscar Grant Plaza/Occupy Oakland site. In a sense, this book is timeless. Jack London's dystopian sci-fi book, The Iron Heel (Dover Books on Literature & Drama), depicts a working class revolution against a capitalist tyranny.

Jack London grew up in an impoverished environment, and had a difficult life with his mother. He also sought a father figure. He went in search of adventure, to prove himself as a man. He went to the Yukon, he traveled to Japan (Jack London)-inspiring a cheesy B movie biopic with Susan Hayward-his travels took him across the US and around the world.

"Wolf" also chronicles London's troubled relationships with his wives and children. His first wife, Bess, is depicted as a "vengeful harpy",despite his mistreatment of her. He claimed he wanted a platonic marriage with her-until he changed his mind. He dubbed her "mother-girl." He had an affair with Charmian Kittredge (Voyaging in Wild Seas or a Woman Among the Head Hunters: a Narrative of the Voyage of the Snark in the Years 1907-1909), who would eventually be his second wife. He dubbed Charmian "Mate-Woman" because she was more androgynous. They were a match. Jack London found his equal. They both espoused progressive causes along with each other. Charmian believed in free love (as did her parents) She helped him with his writing;he encouraged her in horseback riding. They shared and encouraged each other's interests. In the Sonoma Valley, they built the ambitious Wolf House, that some have speculated was burnt down because of London's socialist views.

"Wolf" is a fascinating biography;it is definitely The Call of the Wild (Dover Thrift Editions)

One does not hear much today about Jack London's books, which at one time entertained with tales of high adventure. His life itself was high adventure and deserves a read. B Reynolds