List $26.00

Written by Jack London - Audio book performed by Patrick Lawlor - Unabridged Fiction - 3 COMPACT DISCS - 3 hours, 23 minutes

Publisher, Tantor Media (2003)

Listen to an audio clip NOTE: You will need RealPlayer Basic to listen. It's FREE !

Buck lives a content life. Half St. Bernard, half Shepard, he is top dog on a California ranch. But the Gold Rush in the Klondike has produced an enormous demand for sled dogs so, when a gardener at the ranch needs to pay a gambling debt, stealing and selling Buck is a quick way to do it.

Having never been mistreated, Buck soon learns that man can be the cruelest animal. He is whipped, beaten and caged, but never broken. Confronted by the law of survival, Buck learns to fight, steal and pull a sled. He takes pride in his new strength and ferocity. Buck manages to escape this life of abuse and learns to love a new master more than his own life. He gradually discovers the skills of his forbears and finds his home in the primordial forest – eventually Buck cannot resist the call of the wild.

This classic book brings out the true spirit of the Gold Rush days at the turn of the last century. It portrays the brutality, kindness, love, and folly that Jack London experienced first hand during his time in the far north. It was his first successful book, and catapulted him to literary fame.

About the Author: Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876. After he was deserted by his father, an itinerant astrologer, he was raised in Oakland by his mother. Although his youth was marked by poverty, he became an avid reader by the age of ten. Young Jack frequented the Oakland Public Library, where he was influenced by the works of Flaubert, Tolstoy and other major novelists. After leaving school at the age of 14, London worked as a seaman, rode freight trains as a hobo, and joined in protest armies of the unemployed during the hard times of the 1890's. In 1894 he was arrested in Niagara Falls and jailed for vagrancy. He then made a vow to better himself. Later these hard life adventures provided rich material for his well known works, such as The Sea-Wolf. London educated himself in public libraries, and at the age of 19 was accepted to the University of California at Berkeley. However, London left the school before the year was over and went to seek a fortune in the Klondike gold rush of 1897. His attempt to find gold was unsuccessful, and he spent a harsh winter near Dawson City suffering from scurvy before returning to San Francisco.

For the remainder of 1898, London tried to earn his living by writing, finding his first success with The Son Of the Wolf in 1900. That same year he married Elisabeth Maddern, but left her and their two daughters, three years later, to marry Charmian Kittredge. He produced a steady stream of fiction novels and short stories. In 1901 London ran unsuccessfully on the Socialist party ticket for mayor of Oakland. In 1902 he went to England, where he studied the backside of the British Empire. His report about the economic degradation of the poor in The People of the Abyss, became a surprise success in the U.S. but was decried in England. In 1904, London traveled to Korea as a correspondent for one of William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, to cover the war between Russia and Japan. The next year he published his first collection of non-fiction pieces, The War of the Classes, which included lectures on socialism.

In 1907 London and his second wife attempted a sailing trip around the world, aboard the Snark. After hardships they aborted the journey in Australia. In 1910, London purchased a ranch land near Glen Ellen, CA and devoted all his energy and money to improving it. He also traveled widely and reported on the Mexican revolution. In 1913 London's Ranch house burned to the ground. Debts, alcoholism, illness, and fear of losing his creativity darkened the author's last years. Jack London died on November 22, 1916.