Jack London, a recognized classic of American and world literature, became famous primarily as the author of novels and stories about exciting and dangerous journeys, about strong, noble and purposeful people. He was never an ivory tower dreamer, and even in his early youth he learned what the struggle for survival was. His fate included exhausting factory work, “pirate” adventures, and the “gold rush”. Life itself gave him plots and images of heroes, and allowed him to talk about how unpredictable the turns of fate can be. In 1903, he published the book "People of the Abyss", in which he described the London "bottom" and its inhabitants. In the summer of 1902, he went to the neighborhoods of the East End to see with his own eyes the life of those who found themselves below the poverty line, who were forced to struggle, hoping not to die of hunger and poverty. Summarizing the experience gained on this journey, Jack London asks the question of the viability of a civilization that creates all kinds of new benefits, but does not alleviate the lot of the common man.