2. John Griffith London (1876-1916)
was born in San Francisco of an
unmarried mother of wealthy
background, Flora Wellman. His
father may have been William
Chaney, a journalist, lawyer, and
major figure in the development of
American astrology.
3. • London's first book was published, The
Son of the Wolf (1900).
• The God of His Fathers (1901)
• A Daughter of the Snows (1902)
• The Road (1907)
• The Call of the Wild (1903)
4. Jack London's most
successful book, The
Call of the Wild, was
awarded the Newberry
Medal in 1931.
5. London died November 22, 1916, in a sleepin porch
in a cottage on his ranch. He was in extreme pain
and taking morphine, and it is possible that a
morphine overdose, accidental or deliberate, may
have contributed to his death. The biographer Stasz
writes, "Following London's death, for a number of
reasons, a biographical myth developed in which he
has been portrayed as an alcoholic womanizer who
committed suicide. Recent scholarship based upon
firsthand documents challenges this caricature."[4
