Mothers and fathers -- Childhood's end -- The apostate -- A boy among men -- The dream as nightmare -- The open road -- A man among boys -- Higher education -- The golden dream -- Breakthrough : "Overland" and "The black cat" -- Best in class: "The Atlantic" -- Marriage and success -- In key with the world -- Anna and the "abyss" -- the wonderful year -- The wages of war -- The long sickness -- The valley of the moon -- Catastrophe -- Paradise lost -- Paradise momentarily regained -- Inferno -- The agrarian dream and loss of joy -- Four horses for a chicken thief -- Unlucky thirteen -- New York, Mexico, and home again -- A sea-change -- Silver speech, golden silence

Describes the adventurous life of the great American author, who spent time as a hobo, a sailor, a gold prospector, and an oyster pirate before penning such classics as "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang."

The first authorized biography of great American novelist, Jack London. He 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. Here the author, a noted Jack London scholar 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, the author resurrects a major American novelist in his full fire and glory. -- Provided by publisher