A very intense (socially and politically) book. Jack London, obviously influenced by Karl Marx's & Friedrich Engels' "Communist Manifesto" writes his youth story in a cruel U.S.A. during difficult times. It very well described the struggle for survival by the working class in his day and age. It was very interesting to find out, he was a committed socialist. It was also very interesting to read how not much has changed after a century in the war of the classes. The man who wrote with grit and clarity about the Darwinian struggle for survival was also a committed socialist. And in this book he lays out why. Very clear exploration of the ideas of the time which strangely enough doesn't really seem dated. This book puts in prospective how it feels to become a lower or a higher class than you are currently in.