Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California.

He was a self-educated man with little money or possessions. He ran away from his home-town in around 1890, to illegally poach and sell oysters. He quickly left his job after his boat was broken, and then kept on job-hunting, never staying in one job for long.

Eventually, he just wandered as a tramp.

But shortly afterward, he went back to his home-town and attended his school, doing well and eventually getting admitted to the University of Berkeley.

Later, in 1897, he caught gold fever and joined thousands of others in an attempt to find gold in the Klondike. Unfortunately, he didn't achieve much profit, other than a new-found love a socialism, which, depending on one's political views, could be a profit.

He scored his first commercial success with writing short stories, and in 1900 he married Elizabeth Maddern, having two daughters.

Later on he wrote some of his most successful novels, like White Fang and the Call of the Wild.

He died on November 22, 1916. Because he was using morphine, many older sources describe London's death as a suicide, and many still believe that today.

His novels are still cult classics today.