Jack London and The Klondike: The Genesis of an American Writer (The Huntington Library Classics)

Jack London and the Klondike presents a vivid and accurate account of the young London's experiences during the Yukon gold rush, which furnished the substance for his most successful books. Walker masterfully re-creates this dramatic year in London's life through quotations from his travel diaries and the testimony of his companions, as well as related material from his fiction. First published in 1966, at a time when London was still regarded by many as little more than a writer of stories for children, Walker's study was the first treating London's outstanding contributions to literature, and it remains a definitive study of a crucial phase of his career.