Jack London was an American novelist, journalist and social activist. Pioneering the genre of magazine fiction and prototyping science fiction, he became one of the first writers, who gained worldwide fame and a large fortune. On the Makaloa Mat is a collection of seven short stories that describes life on the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. Full of descriptions of local nature and sea, it dives into the lives of characters and the effect that the contact with Western civilization causes. The Road is an autobiographical memoir full of London's experiences living as a hobo during the economic crisis in the United States, hopping freight trains, begging for money or food, and making up stories for the police to avoid prison term.