I've just been looking thru my library's list of Jack London books (after being reminded by the London title that Frybabe posted recently in Blanko) and found a couple I'd not heard of, but look interesting and which I've added to my colossal TBR list.
THE ROAD by Jack London (100 pp) Per book desc., "The Road" is Jack London's collection of stories from his life as a hobo. In this entertaining collection of tales and autobiographical essays, London relates every aspect of the hobo's life -- from catching a train to cadging a meal. He tells the tricks that hoboes used to evade train crews, and reminisces about his travels with Kelly's Army. Jack London later credited his story-telling skill to the hobo's necessity of concocting tales to coax meals from sympathetic strangers. London's "The Road" is quite likely the inspiration for Jack Kerouac's more famous rendition, written more than 50 years later."
THE IRON HEEL (224 pp) Per Amazon reader, "The novel follows Ernest Everhard, and his wife Avery, who is the putative author of the memoir, as they try to establish a socialist revolution in a world that is in the death grip of Capitalism.
From a historical perspective, this book is fascinating in that it seems to offer a glimpse into the worldview of the Left prior to World War One. The novel has more than its fair share of polemical moments when London preaches the Socialist gospel through the mouth of Everhard. We learn, for example, that capitalism is doomed to failure as it invests its surplus wealth into the development of foreign markets, which in turn become competitors, leading to a crisis where no further investment is possible. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. (Hmmm.... sounds a bit like what's going on today... ) The rich, who control the governments, pass legislation eliminating the independent middle class and reducing the poor to a state of serfdom."
JOHN BARLEYCORN; "ALCOHOLIC MEMOIRS" (363 pp) Per Amazon reader, "John Barleycorn is a tremondous book. It details how London raised himself from incredible childhood poverty and lower class surroundings while still a teen, engaging in rugged, manly adverntures that were simply amazing. This book also relates how London's love of books changed his life, and it will amaze you that his knowledge is so broad (throughout the book London dazzles us with philosophical qoutes and insights). Most of all though, this book is about alcoholism. London had a strong liking for intoxication. However, one would be wrong to think of this book as pro-drinking. He is fairly fanatical in his dislike of alcohol and what it eventually did to him and other young men of his age."
Marj
