For Immediate Release: May 29, 2008

The Oakland History Room Presents:
Jonah Raskin on The Radical Jack London

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(Oakland, CA)—To help launch The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution, newly published by the University of California Press, its editor, Jonah Raskin, will discuss the often overlooked political writings of Oakland's best-known literary figure. The event will take place Thursday, June 19, 2008, from 6:30 to 7:45 PM, at the Oakland Public Library, 125 14th Street. Raskin, whose work as a biographer has previously explored the lives and exploits of poet Allen Ginsberg and 1960s anti-war radical Abbie Hoffman, now serves as editor of the political writings of their most successful forebear, Oakland's Jack London.

Through his widespread popularity as a writer of masculine adventure stories and gripping tales for the youth market, Jack London achieved unparalleled fame in his own lifetime and stood as an early symbol of the 20th-century American male. At the same time, he stood as one of the nation's best-known and most outspoken advocates of the revolutionary overthrow of American capitalism. His essays on the failures of this system echo eerily today, a century later.

For nearly two decades, Raskin has reviewed books for The San Francisco Chronicle, written literary and cultural criticism for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat and, since 1988, has been the chair of the Communication Studies Department at Sonoma State University where he teaches media law, reporting, and media marketing. He is the author of eight books, including My Search for B. Traven; Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives: Northern California Writers and Their Work; For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman; and American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and the Making of the Beat Generation. In addition, he has published three collections of his own poetry.

Raskin's appearance is sponsored by the Oakland History Room, on the second floor of the Main Library, which holds a valuable collection of Jack London's work and primary research materials devoted to his life and career. London attributed his childhood visits to the Oakland Public Library as a significant inspiration to his literary success.

For more information, call the Oakland History Room at (510) 238-3222, or visit the Oakland Public Library’s Website at www.oaklandlibrary.org. To request sign interpretation or other accommodation, please contact the number above at least five working days prior to the event. The Oakland Public Library is a department of the City of Oakland.

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