The Call of the Wild opens with Buck, a large powerful dog, enjoying life as a pet on a Santa Clara ranch. He is stolen and eventually and sold into service as a sled dog in the Yukon. He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
Jack London spent almost a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book. The story was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903 and was published a month later in book form. The book's great popularity and success made a reputation for London. It is perhaps his most celebrated novel, and has been adapted to film numerous times.
