Burning Daylight (Classics Series) by Jack London

"Burning Daylight" was Jack London's best- selling book during his lifetime, yet amazingly since his death, the book has been totally neglected except for an occasional reprint, and currently it is again out of print. The book begins as a two-fisted macho adventure on the Klondike, as the hero --nicknamed Burning Daylight -- becomes the most successful entrepreneur during the Alaskan Gold Rush. However, after achieving his fame and fortune, he finds no more challenge in the north and heads to the States for new worlds to conquer. But, first he is flimflammed out of his fortune by Wall Street. However, he learns the lesson of dog-eat-dog and becomes as much of a scoundrel as those who robbed him. He ventures to California and envisions the future success of Oakland, buys property, sets up utilities and public transportation systems through overbearing and shady tactics. He begins to drink, starts to go soft in the belly, and loses his good looks and vitality. And then, for the first time, he falls in love. The last third of the book charmingly relates how a good woman turns a now bad man around. It is a love story and a rousing adventure as well as a trieste on the ills of big business.