WRITER

Jack London

1876 - 1916

Photo of Jack London

Icon of person Jack London

John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jack London has received more than 6,796,784 page views. His biography is available in 94 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 93 in 2019). Jack London is the 92nd most popular writer (down from 63rd in 2019), the 72nd most popular biography from United States (down from 53rd in 2019) and the 8th most popular American Writer.

Jack London is most famous for his novels, such as The Call of the Wild and White Fang.

Memorability Metrics

  • 6.8M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 77.53

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 94

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.98

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.15

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Call of the Wild
Gold discoveries, Bienestar, Lobos
As Buck, a mixed breed dog, is taken away from his home, instead of facing a feast for breakfast and the comforts of home, he faces the hardships of being a sled dog. Soon he lands in the wrong hands, being forced to keep going when it is too rough for him and the other dogs in his pack. He also fights the urges to run free with his ancestors, the wolves who live around where he is pulling the sled.
1900
Martin Eden
Fiction, Literature, Authors
Jack London's Martin Eden was first published in 1909 and is the story of a young writer's quest for celebrity and love. Much loved by writers who identify with Martin's belief that when he posted a manuscript, 'there was no human editor at the other end, but a mere cunning arrangement of cogs that changed the manuscript from one envelope to another and stuck on the stamps,' that automatically returned it slapped with a rejection slip. ---------- Also contained in: - [The Collected Jack London](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15031706W/The_Collected_Jack_London) - [Novels and Social Writings](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL74447W/Novels_and_Social_Writings)
1908
White Fang
Gold discoveries, Wolfdogs, Classic Literature
The story of a wolf/dog cross, who is raised by Indians, and becomes a deadly fighter.
1905
The Sea-Wolf
Fiction, Ship captains, Sealing ships
Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf became an instant bestseller on its release in 1904. Ambrose Bierce wrote "The great thing - and it is among the greatest of things - is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen...the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is black for a man to do in one lifetime." The Sea Wolf tells the story of intellectual Humphrey van Weyden's toughening and growth in the face of brutality and hardship. Set adrift after his ferry collides in fog and sinks, van Weyden is pulled out of the sea by Wolf Larsen.
1900
The Iron Heel
Revolutions, Oligarchy, Utopias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Heel
1907
Before Adam
Fiction, Prehistoric peoples, Dreams
A young man in modern America is terrorized by visions of an earlier, primitive life. Across the enormous chasm of thousands of centuries, his consciousness has become entwined with that of Big-Tooth, an ancestor living at the dawn of humanity. Big-Tooth makes his home in Pleistocene Africa, a ferocious, fascinating younger world torn by incessant conflict between early humans and protohumans. Before Adam is a remarkable and provocative tale that thrust evolution further into the public spotlight in the early twentieth century and has since become a milestone of speculative fiction. The brilliance of the book lies not only in its telling but also in its imaginative projection of a mindset for early humans. Capitalizing on his recognized ability to understand animals, Jack London paints an arresting and dark portrait of how our distant ancestors thought about themselves and their world.
1906
The Call of the Wild
Gold discoveries, Bienestar, Lobos
As Buck, a mixed breed dog, is taken away from his home, instead of facing a feast for breakfast and the comforts of home, he faces the hardships of being a sled dog. Soon he lands in the wrong hands, being forced to keep going when it is too rough for him and the other dogs in his pack. He also fights the urges to run free with his ancestors, the wolves who live around where he is pulling the sled.
1903
The Iron Heel
Revolutions, Oligarchy, Utopias
Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian," it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes.
1907
Burning Daylight
Bankruptcy, Classic Literature, Fiction
Burning Daylight was Jack London's best selling book during his lifetime. The book begins as a two-fisted macho adventure on the Klondike, as the hero--nicknamed Burning Daylight--becomes the most successful entrepreneur during the Alaskan Gold Rush. After acheiving his fame and fortune, he finds no more challenge in the north and heads to the States for new worlds to conquer. He is flim-flammed out of his fortune by Wall Streeters, learns the lesson of dog-eat-dog, and becomes as much of a scoundrel as those who robbed him.
1910
White Fang
Gold discoveries, Wolfdogs, Classic Literature
The story of a wolf/dog cross, who is raised by Indians, and becomes a deadly fighter.
1905
Children of the Frost
Classic Literature, Fiction, American Short stories
1800
The Sea-Wolf
Fiction, Ship captains, Sealing ships
Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf became an instant bestseller on its release in 1904. Ambrose Bierce wrote "The great thing - and it is among the greatest of things - is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen...the hewing out and setting up of such a figure is black for a man to do in one lifetime." The Sea Wolf tells the story of intellectual Humphrey van Weyden's toughening and growth in the face of brutality and hardship. Set adrift after his ferry collides in fog and sinks, van Weyden is pulled out of the sea by Wolf Larsen.
1900

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Jack London ranks 92 out of 7,302. Before him are Knut Hamsun, Pablo Neruda, Giorgio Vasari, José Saramago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Henry David Thoreau. After him are Toni Morrison, Erich Maria Remarque, Emily Brontë, Matsuo Bashō, George Sand, and Marquis de Sade.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1876, Jack London ranks 2. Before him is Pope Pius XII. After him are Konrad Adenauer, Mata Hari, Erich Raeder, Zewditu, Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Wilhelm Pieck, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Constantin Brâncuși, Pablo Casals, and Alexander I of Serbia. Among people deceased in 1916, Jack London ranks 3. Before him are Grigori Rasputin, and Franz Joseph I of Austria. After him are Ernst Mach, Yuan Shikai, Henryk Sienkiewicz, William Ramsay, Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Élie Metchnikoff, Franz Marc, Odilon Redon, and Umberto Boccioni.

Others Born in 1876

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Others Deceased in 1916

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Jack London ranks 72 out of 20,380. Before him are Danny DeVito (1944), James Stewart (1908), George H. W. Bush (1924), Charles Lindbergh (1902), Henry David Thoreau (1817), and Helen Keller (1880). After him are Toni Morrison (1931), Patrick Swayze (1952), Bill Clinton (1946), Theodore Roosevelt (1858), Woody Allen (1935), and Al Capone (1899).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Jack London ranks 8. Before him are Ernest Hemingway (1899), H. P. Lovecraft (1890), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896), Mark Twain (1835), Robert Frost (1874), and Henry David Thoreau (1817). After him are Toni Morrison (1931), Stephen King (1947), Dr. Seuss (1904), William Faulkner (1897), J. D. Salinger (1919), and John Steinbeck (1902).

American born Writers

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