Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in a poor area of Oakland, California. He was a troubled young man who started writing at the age of twenty-four. His stories of men and animals against the environment and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his experience. His years in the Klondike searching for gold left their mark on his best short stories, The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Sea Wolf was based on his experiences at sea. In his short life, Jack London traveled to many countries. In the course of sixteen years, he wrote nineteen novels, eighteen books of essays and short stories and many other books. He retired to his ranch near Sonoma were he died at age 40 on November 21, 1916.