The Call of the Wild brought him international acclaim when it was published in 1903. His story of the dog Buck, who learns to survive in the bleak Yukon wilderness, is viewed by many as his symbolic autobiography. 'No other popular writer of his time did any better writing than you will find in The Call of the Wild, ' said H.L. Mencken. 'Here, indeed, are all the elements of sound fiction.' White Fang (1906), which London conceived as a 'complete antithesis and companion piece to The Call of the Wild, ' is the tale of an abused wolf-dog tamed by exposure to civilization. Also included in this volume is 'To Build a Fire, ' a marvelously desolate short story set in the Klondike, but containing all the elements of a classic Greek tragedy.