Jack London.

Flora Wellman gave birth to John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco. His biological father William Henry Chaney was absent, so his mother raised him with stepfather John London. After grammar school, he worked 12 to 18 hours a day at a cannery. In 1891, with money loaned by his black foster mother Virginia Prentiss, he bought a sloop and became an oyster pirate. Later that year he joined the California Fish Patrol, and in 1893 he sailed to Japan on a sealing schooner, an experience that produced his first published story Typhoon off the Coast of Japan in November 1893. He became a tramp, was arrested for vagrancy in 1894, and spent a month in jail, witnessing what he called awful abysses of human degradation.

London’s writing career took off after his Klondike Gold Rush experience in 1897. His struggle for survival inspired To Build a Fire 1902, considered his best short story. The Call of the Wild 1903 was his biggest success, followed by The Sea-Wolf 1904, which became the first full-length American movie. Later works include The Iron Heel 1908, a premonition of an Orwellian world, and the autobiographical Martin Eden 1909. He became the highest-paid writer of his time, earning over $2 million, yet he was often broke. In 1905 he bought a ranch in California, where he designed the first concrete silo in the state. His ecological approach to sustainable agriculture was ahead of its time. The Iron Heel and other works reflected his complex philosophy, influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche whom he later called his intellectual enemy, Carl Jung, Karl Marx, and Charles Darwin.

London married Elizabeth May Maddern in 1900; the marriage was described as Victorian and based on friendship rather than love. They had two daughters, Joan and Becky London. His real love was Charmian Kittredge, an editor whom he met around the time of his marriage. The day after Bessie finalized their divorce in 1905, he married Charmian. They lived in happiness, sharing adventures, until his death. London wanted a son but never had one. In 1913, his Big House on his ranch was destroyed by a devastating fire, which financially and mentally hurt him. He built a small cottage but lived only three more years. He died on November 22, 1916 at age 40 at his ranch in Glen Ellen, California from uremic poisoning brought on by acute nephritis.

The Call of the Wild and The Sea-Wolf anchor Jack London’s legacy. His 1,400-acre ranch in California is now Jack London State Historic Park, a National Historic Landmark. His writer’s cottage was preserved by his widow Charmian, who lived there until her death in 1955. London appeared on a 25-cent US stamp in 1986. Authors like Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell admired his storytelling. He is most remembered for his adventure novels that capture the struggle for survival and the raw beauty of nature.