Jack London: Landscape, Love, and Place

Abstract

Jack London: Landscape, Love, and Place explores how Jack London‘s life and works are critical pieces of American history and literature, which can open an avenue between literary works and place-based learning. The thesis first lays a foundation for its theoretical interpretation of London‘s later works based on the idea of agrarian masculinity, a term that has developed since Thomas Jefferson through the Turner Thesis age and well into today as a lens for understanding Americanism and American ideals based on hard work, community, farm life, and harmony with nature. The thesis then studies two of London‘s works and his biography through this framework. It follows the analyses with ways to apply these critical ideas to place-based education principles and practices including suggestions for how other literary works and authors could be viable literary options for causing significant changes in the inclusion of more classic and popular literature place-based learning curricula.