Jack London: A LifeA full blooded, pacy biography of one of the most charismatic writers of the century, whose life and work were to inspire Hemingway, Steinbeck, Kerouac and Mailer. We cannot help but read on: TLS. The energy, dynamism and sheer bursting life force of Jack London bowls you over: Scotsman. Jack Londons life story (18761916) is as dramatic as any of the fiction he wrote. Born illegitimate in San Francisco, he was (in his teens) an oyster pirate, seal