<p>John Griffith London (born John Griffith Chaney; January 12, 1876 &ndash; November 22, 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.</p><p>His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories 'To Build a Fire', 'An Odyssey of the North', and 'Love of Life'. He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as 'The Pearls of Parlay', and 'The Heathen'.</p><p>London was part of the radical literary group 'The Crowd' in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of unionization, workers&#39; rights, socialism, and eugenics. He wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction expos&eacute; The People of the Abyss, The War of the Classes, and Before Adam. (wikipedia.org)<br />
&nbsp;</p>