John Barleycorn

Jack London cut a mythic figure across the American landscape of the early twentieth century. But throughout his colorful lifefrom his teenage years as an oyster pirate to his various incarnations as a well-traveled seaman, Yukon gold prospector, waterfront brawler, unemployed vagrant, impassioned socialist, and celebrated writerhe retained a predilection for drinking on a prodigious scale. London's classic "alcoholic memoirs"the closest thing to an autobiography he ever wroteare a startlingly honest and vivid account of his life not only as a drinker, but also as a storied adventurer. Richly anecdotal and beautifully written, John Barleycorn stands as the earliest intelligent treatment of alcohol in American literature, and as an intensely moving document of one of America's finest writers. This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes illustrations from the original edition.

<b>Pete Hamill</b> is the author of <i>A Drinking Life </i>and <i>Piecework</i>, among other books. He lives in New York.