Unique to this title are:

• A historical introduction
• A study of the themes present in The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Lost Face (Including Other Short Stories)

You may of course skip all of it and go straight to the main title if you do not want any spoilers and come back later to the beginning.

Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876, as John Griffith Chaney. He was an illegitimate child of Flora Wellman and William Chaney. When Chaney refused to marry Flora Wellman, she tried to kill herself. She survived, but refused to take care of the baby. So, London was raised by an African-American woman and a former slave. His mother later married a man named John London, and that is probably how his surname changed to London.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life gets turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail-delivery dog sled team, Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime as he ultimately finds his true place in the world.

White Fang is the story of a wolf-dog that is rescued from its brutal owner and gradually becomes domesticated through the patience and kindness of its new owner, Weedon Scott. White Fang eventually defends Scott's father from attack by an escaped convict.

Lost Face (Including Other Short Stories) is a collection of seven short stories by Jack London. It takes its name from the first short story in the book, about a European adventurer in the Yukon who outwits his (American) Indian captors' plans to torture him. The book includes London's best-known short story, "To Build a Fire". The seven short stories are: "Lost Face", "Trust", "To Build a Fire", "That Spot", "Flush of Gold", "The Passing of Marcus O’Brien", and "The Wit of Porportuk".

Enjoy this timeless classic collection!