'Martin Eden' & 'The Iron Heel'

Of all of Jack London's writings, it's slightly odd that these two make the 1,001 cut. This only because they were published a year apart and neither are London's more popular tales of outdoors and surviving in the wild.

Both are stories directly or indirectly related to his vehement socialism that he became a vocal leader for during the turn of the century primarily in California. He ran twice for mayor of Oakland and lost on the socialist ballot. He spoke publicly and wrote essays supporting his political leanings.

Martin Eden details the struggles of a young man who seeks a higher calling as a writer coming from an uneducated background. Staving off starvation, he teaches himself proper grammar and techniques in order to sell his stories to magazines. The laborious task turns into a pure struggle until he finds the upper echelons of literary success. Meanwhile, he struggles with his socialist ideals meanwhile becoming a stalwart of the upper class himself.

The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel and almost a long-form essay set to fictional characters of a young woman's whose capitalistic ideals are turned upon listening to the socialist leanings of her lover. She discovers the brunt of the upper class' "iron heel" that stamps out all hope for being treated fairly or, at the very least, as a human being. Something between ape and human. The novel served as a direct influence to George Orwell's 1984.

What you take the most from these books isn't some great ideal of socialism. London was an insufferable dick. He left his wife and kids. He was an alcoholic and philanderer. He was a intense racist and chapter seven of The Iron Heel is considered plagiarized as were some of his other works.

It's easy being a socialist when you literally don't think everyone is equal and you yourself are making more money writing stories.