A review by michaelmc
South Sea Tales by Jack London

5.0

Jack London is still a modern writer. He did live in the 19th and very early 20th centuries but his writing still seems fresh and current. His South Sea Tales do speak of the racism of the time but his writing about the people of the islands is respectful and admiring. In some stories the characters with bad characters are the white Americans and the good people are the islanders. London gathered his information about the South Pacific on his sailing trip on the Snark, a sailing ship he had built to his specifications. It was a costly trip, the ship was badly built and had to be nearly rebuilt in Hawaii. He and most of the crew became very ill from various tropical diseases and London spent several months in an Australian hospital before he was well enough to travel home to California. But the firsthand knowledge he gains informs the stories and makes them very real.