James L. Haley

In Wolf: the Lives of Jack London, James Haley skillfully portrays the many lives lived by one of America’s most beloved writers. From a poor work beast to an oyster pirate, a lawman with the fish patrol to a seal hunter, a tramp to a student, a prospector to an aspiring writer, a muckraker to a war correspondent, a lover to a celebrity, a sailor to a rancher, he finally succumbed to his failing health as a jaded and terminally ill 40-year-old.

Famous for The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, White Fang, John Barleycorn, and The Star-Rover, he was a prolific writer who never failed to turn out 1,000 pages a day. His short life was an interesting mix of fascinating adventures and a successive string of tragedies that he always found a way of over-coming until the very end. His life is best summed up by his credo: “The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

London did indeed use his time, as he left behind a vast and varied collection of essays, short stories, and novels. He was the first world-wide celebrity writer who made a fortune writing,
yet he was always broke due to his generosity and sense of duty in caring for those whom he loved. He was a fierce lover of animals, and he traveled the world seeking adventure, yet he was at his happiest and most at peace at his Beauty Ranch in the Valley of the Moon, in Glen Ellen, California, now the Jack London State Park, where he and his wife Charmian are buried.

Haley’s biography of Jack London is interring, honest, touching, but not sentimental. London would have approved of it I’m sure.… (altro)