Although best known for Call of the Wild and White Fang, Jack London was a maverick, and this work represents a valid and daring piece of investigative journalism. Here, London lived among the poor in the city of London. At the time, 939 out of 1,000 people died of poverty; one in every four in a workhouse, infirmary, or lunatic asylum; 55% of East End children never made it to the age of five. As such, the work teems with anger; it is a truly shocking exposé. London had a latent socialist agenda; his aspired-to revolution did not occur, as much as anything owing to the world wars, but it is fair—certainly with the course of history—that the lot of the poor/general quality of life has improved over the last century. N/R.
By Jack London