John Barleycorn

Jack London cut a mythic figure across the American landscape of the early twentieth century. But throughout his colorful life–from 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 writer–he retained a predilection for drinking on a prodigious scale. London’s classic "alcoholic memoirs"–the closest thing to an autobiography he ever wrote–are a startlin…