Author of more than fifty books, Jack London, born in San Francisco, grew up across the bay in Oakland. Variously a tramp, a fisherman, a longshoreman, and a sailor, London also worked as a gold prospector and a war correspondent. Among his influences are those of Social Darwinism, Nietzsche and Marx. Although his writings suggest a complexity of ideas, he is commonly categorized as a literary naturalist. His adventure stories of Alaska and the Pacific continue to fascinate new generations of readers.--- In Before Adam, the protagonist relives, in his dreams, the pre-stoneage life of one of his proto-human ancestors.--- Children of the Frost is a collection of stories set in the frozen wastes of the Yukon during the "Gold Rush."
