The Iron Heel
An early example of modern dystopian fiction, The Iron Heel dabbles in sci-fi, and is a wonderfully unique, though often terrifying, example of London’s writing.
Avis Everhard was born into a position of privilege as the daughter of an esteemed scientist and is also married to a socialist revolutionary. Despite her blessed life, Avis must still watch in horror as, in the early years of the twentieth century, democracy collapses in the United States, replaced by The Oligarchy, or Iron Heel. The middle class has been destroyed, and workers have been reduced to serfdom or poverty. Avis joins an underground resistance, and together they plan the glorious Second Revolt which is sure to obliterate The Oligarchy and put power…
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December 6, 2016Jack London—his real name was John Griffith London—had a wild and colorful youth on the waterfront of Oakland, his native city. Born in 1876, he left school at the age of fourteen and worked in a cannery. By the time he was sixteen he had been both an oyster pirate and a member of the Fish Patrol in San Francisco Bay. He later wrote about these experiences in The Cruise of the Dazzler (1902) and Tales of the Fish Patrol (1905). In 1893 he joined a sealing cruise that took him as far as Japan. Returning to the United States, he traveled throughout the country. He was determined to become a writer and read voraciously. After a brief period of study at the University…