The Call of the Wild is a
novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously pampered
dog
named Buck whose primordial instincts return after a series of events finds him serving as a sled dog in the treacherous, frigid Yukon during the days of the 19th-century Gold Rushes.
Published in 1903,
The Call of the Wild is one of London''''s most read books and it is generally considered one of his best. Because the main character is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile
novel, suitable for children. However, it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence.
London followed the book in 1906 with White Fang, a companion novel with many similar plot elements and themes as
The Call of the Wild, although following a mirror image plot in which a wild wolf becomes civilized by a mining expert from San Francisco named Weedon Scott.