London's suspense thriller focuses on the fine distinction between state- justified murder and criminal violence in the Assassination Bureau—an organization whose mandate is to rid the state of all its enemies.

A collection of Jack London's most profound and moving allegorical talesThe Call of the Wild, London's masterpiece about a dog learning to survive in the wilderness, sees pampered pet Buck snatched from his home and set to work as a sled-dog. White Fang, set in the frozen tundra and boreal forests of Canada's Yukon territory, is the story of a wolf-dog struggling to survive in a human society every bit as violent as the natural world. This volume of Jack London's famed stories of the North also includes 'Batard', in which an abused dog takes revenge on his owner; and 'Love of Life', in which an injured prospector, abandoned by his partner, must struggle home alone through the wilderness, stalked by a lone wolf. In his introduction, James Dickey probes London's strong personal and literary identification with the wolf-dog as a symbol and totem. Andrew Sinclair, London's official biographer and the volume's editor, provides a brief account of London's life as a...

A New York Times Bestselling Author -- First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild brought Jack London critical acclaim, instant celebrity, and a readership that would span generations across the globe.Stolen from the comfortable California home of Judge Miller, Buck -- a powerful half-St. Bernard, half-Scottish sheepdog -- is shipped to the Klondike and pressed into service as a sled dog. So begins an odyssey in which Buck experiences cruelty and neglect, learns the brutal skills of a survivor, finds a gentle master that he can respect and love, and eventually leaves civilization behind to become the legendary leader of a wolf pack.**

In the words of Jack London, "I have written some novels of adventure in my time, but never, in all of the many of them, have I perpetrated a totality of action equal to what is contained in 'Hearts of Three'."

Like the characters in the popular dime novels of the time, London's heroes display such manly virtues as courage, loyalty, and steadfastness as they conftont the merciless frozen expanses of the north. Yet London breaks free of stereotypical figures and one-dimensional plots to explore deeper psychological and social questions of self-mastery, masculinity, and racial domination. The uneasy relationship between the Native Americans and whites lies at the heart of many of the stories, while others reflect London's growing awareness of the destruction wrought by the white incursion on Indian culture. Northland Stories comprises nineteen of Jack London's greatest short works, including "An Odyssy of the North" (London's major breakthrough as a young author), "The White Silence," "The Law of Life," "The League of the Old Men," and the world classic "To Build a Fire."