JACK (Cheny) Griffith LONDON, Socialist

Last nite, cutting the 1^st half of our usual Wed. nite Mission College adult ed class, we went to the little nearby Santa Clara Mission Branch public library for a life of Jack London (1876-1916) slide-show narrated by Ohio London scholar Dr. Daniel Dyer, Ph.D, author of "Jack London's Women"

This year The City of Santa Clara’s participating in a month-long National Endowment for the Arts multi-institutional (public college + museum + library) program THE BIG READ, this year, choosing London’s novel “The Call of the Wild” (1902) to read & discuss (probably because) studying it reveals London’s little-known adult associations with the city of Santa Clara & some of its women. See its website: http://library.santaclaraca.gov [click] The Big Read.

Born in S.F. & raised in Oakland, London began in S.F. as a local newspaper & magazine journalist (like Mark Twain), & became world-famous by writing about what he saw & did in the Klondike Gold Rush (1897~).

Then, & until the end of his life (1876-1916), he was a socialist, a member of the Socialist Labor Party (1896-1901.) Among his political works are: “The People of the Abyss” [documentary, 1903, written while living in disguise among London's poorest], "The War of the Classes" [1905], “The Iron Heel [novel, 1907; fascism takes over the USA]”, “Revolution & other Essays” [1909.]