Jack London--An American Life

June 3, 2013
This engrossing biography paints a sympathetic (though not uncritical) portrait of London’s dynamic ambition and energy. Born in San Francisco in 1876 to an impoverished single mother, London (White Fang) took up factory work to support his household while still a child, and by age 18 had worked as an oyster pirate, sailor, and rail-riding hobo. Omnivorous reading and sporadic education fueled his desire to write, and a year spent surviving the Yukon Gold Rush (1897–1898) provided him with inspiration for his earliest nonfiction and fiction. As rendered by Labor (The Portable Jack London), London’s official biographer and curator of the Jack London Museum in Shreveport, La., London was a complex and often contradictory individual—a writer who turned every experience into literary fodder; who disciplined himself to produce 1,000 words per day; and whose by-his-bootstraps lifestyle fueled his devotion to socialism and social justice. But London’s enthusiasms also had their dark side: he was a reckless spendthrift who had to churn out mountains of copy for pay to stay ahead of his creditors; he was an incautious celebrity whose public exploits often made him tabloid fodder; and he was a free spirit who could be self-destructive at times. Here, London emerges as a rugged adventurer with a soft heart, and a larger-than-life character who might have figured as the hero in one of his own brawny bestsellers.

July 15, 2013
A highly sympathetic, knowledgeable portrayal strives to correct the "caricature" of this dynamic, brief life. Having tracked his subject's career since his scholarly research on London in the 1960s, Jack London Museum curator Labor (American Literature/Centenary Coll.; editor: The Portable Jack London, 1994, etc.) is an ideal biographer to capture the dazzling spirit and adventures of the acclaimed American author. London died at age 40 in 1916 from kidney disease and other debilitating conditions, having packed a great deal into a very short time, beginning with his teenage tramping days and stint digging for gold in the Klondike--experiences that provided the rich fodder for his "boys' " stories and exciting animal tales like The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Thanks to his own self-promotion as the child of backwoodsmen and work as a voracious reader and wayfaring adventurer, legends swirled around London throughout his whole life and even death. As Labor fondly delineates, London did live large, seeming to be in a terrible hurry, starting with his childhood digestion of stories by Washington Irving, Poe, Stevenson and Kipling. He crammed his higher education into a few months and then restlessly took off again for the high seas, writing and speaking widely on socialist issues involving exploitation of the workers and social justice, diving into passionate love affairs and embarking on South Pacific adventures in his custom-made boat. All the while, London wrote like a fevered soul--1,000 words per day without fail--following what he called "the spirit that moves to action individuals and peoples, which gives birth and momentum to great ideas." Labor grasps the fire and fight of this most American of authors. A vibrant biography that will surely entice readers back to the original source.

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Starred review from August 1, 2013

Labor (Emeritus Wilson Professor, American literature, Centenary Coll. of Louisiana) offers a biography and researched treatise on the work, life, loves, and philosophical leanings of American author John Griffith "Jack" London (1876-1916). More than 20 biographies have been written about London, but this volume promises to be one of the best for those who have read London's books but know less about his life. As London's official biographer and curator of the Jack London Museum in Shreveport, LA, Labor had access to London's personal diaries and letters, as well as those of his wife Charmian, and knew London's daughters and others with insight into the writer's life. Labor portrays London as a complex person, at once disciplined and wild, who lived as an adventurer, "oyster pirate" (or poacher), prospector, and factory worker before establishing himself as a writer. London's humble and impoverished background led him to work in factories and take other menial jobs to help support his family. His disciplined rise to celebrated author through willpower and hard work makes this a fascinating tale of success. VERDICT Highly recommended for London fans and readers who enjoy biographies, especially those of literary figures.--Sharon Britton, Bowling Green State Univ. Lib., OH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2013
Jack London (18761916) improvised a fast-burning life of reckless adventure that served as the wellspring for his magnificently dramatic writings, from The Call of the Wild to Martin Eden. A good student and insatiable reader ever-grateful for the public library in Oakland, California, young London, poor and fatherless, worked demeaning jobs, then took to sea as an oyster pirate. He learned to fight and drink and became a socialist and constant wanderer. His Klondike escapades yielded a gold mine of stories and inspired his lifelong practice of writing 1,000 words a day, no matter what. London scholar Labor extracts every drop of excitement, folly, romance, creative ecstasy, grueling effort, and despair from the vast London archives, including the relentless press coverageof his exploits. What writer today could ignite the front-page frenzy that surrounded London and the love of his life, Charmian? His fearless second wife, literary accomplice, and stalwart companion on perilous South Sea journeys, Charmian kept a diary from which Labor extracts riveting disclosures leading up to her robust, sexy, carousing husband's precipitously failing health and early death. Labor's unceasingly vivid, often outright astonishing biography vibrantly chronicles London's exceptionally daring and wildly contradictory life and recovers and reassesses his complete oeuvre, including many powerful, long-neglected works of compassionate, eyewitness nonfiction. Let the Jack London revival begin.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)