Anyway, being the last person on earth to read these books, I don't have much to say about the stories themselves. What I did find interesting about this particular edition was the introduction, written by a professor of American literature at Vassar. She discusses London's (well-known) interest and support for Socialism, and then proceeds to cite passages from the books that (to her way of thinking) illustrate and even validate the Socialist world view. Example: the wolf pack that stalks and eventually overwhelms the two dog sledders at the beginning of White Fang demonstrates that workers who organize (i.e. the wolf pack) will have greater success than those enslaved by the ruling class (i.e. the mushers, who are carrying a cargo for a rich family). What foolishness, as she totally misses the point. She doesn't even see the irony in the Jack London letter she quotes later, where he pitches his idea for White Fang to his publisher, raving about how many copies it's going to sell. Ahhh... Socialists make such good capitalists.
So, check this book off my list of books I should have read long ago. What's next? Who knows, maybe it's time to pick up some of the Shakespeare plays that went straight over my head in high school.
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