Publisher's Synopsis
The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.Jack London's novels and ruggedly individual life seemed to embody American hopes, frustrations, and romantic longings in the turbulent first years of the twentieth century, years infused with the wonder and excitement of great technological and historic change. The author's restless spirit, taste for a life of excitement, and probing mind led him on a series of hard-edged adventures from the Klondike to the South Seas. Out of these sometimes harrowing experiences - and his fascination with the theories of such thinkers as Darwin, Spencer, and Marx - came the inspiration for novels of adventure that would make him one of America's most popular writers.The Call of the Wild, considered by many London's greatest novel, is a gripping tale of a heroic dog that, thrust into the brutal life of the Alaska Gold Rush, ultimately faces a choice between living in man's world and returning to nature. Adventure and dog-story enthusiasts as well as students and devotees of American literature will find this classic work a thrilling, memorable reading experience.Other notable Jack London books includes the London's most famous novels are The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf, The Iron Heel, and Martin Eden. The Cruise of the Dazzler (1902); A Daughter of the Snows (1902); The Call of the Wild (1903); The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903); (published anonymously, co-authored with Anna Strunsky); The Sea-Wolf (1904); The Game (1905); White Fang (1906); Before Adam (1907); The Iron Heel (1908); Martin Eden (1909); Burning Daylight (1910); Adventure (1911)The Scarlet Plague (1912); A Son of the Sun (1912); The Abysmal Brute (1913); The Valley of the Moon (1913); The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1914)The Star Rover (1915); (published in England as The Jacket); The Little Lady of the Big House (1916); Jerry of the Islands (1917); Michael, Brother of Jerry (1917); Hearts of Three (1920); (novelization of a script by Charles Goddard); The Assassination Bureau, Ltd (1963); (left half-finished, completed by Robert L. Fish)
