Jack London's life was frequently more dramatic than any of the fiction he wrote. Born illegitimate in 1876 on the San Francisco waterfront, his writing life was relatively short but hugely prolific. Apart from writing 50 books, he lectured for the Socialist Party of America, gathered first-hand material in the London slums for "The People of the Abyss", supported several families, worked as a war correspondent in Korea and Mexico, introduced surfing to the West Coast, sailed the seas in his yacht the "Snark" and slowly drank himself to death.