Jack London character is based on Hawaiian leper Kaluaikoolau, who in 1893 revolted and resisted capture from forces of the Provisional Government of Hawaii in the Kalalau Valley. An amateur boxer and avid boxing fan, London reported on the 1910 Johnson–Jeffries fight, in which the black boxer Jack Johnson vanquished Jim Jeffries, known as the "Great White Hope". In 1908, London had reported on an earlier fight of Johnson's, contrasting the black boxer's coolness and intellectual style, with the apelike appearance and fighting style of his Canadian opponent, Tommy Burns, 'what . . . [won] on Saturday was bigness, coolness, quickness, cleverness,
Gateway to the Great Books Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Albert Einstein and John Dewey. The set included an index similar to the "Great Books"' "Syntopicon", along with reading plans of increasing difficulty. Hutchins contributed an introduction that was essentially a boiled-down version of the "Great Conversation", his preface to the "Great Books". The set contained biographical notes on the various authors, similar to those in the "Great Books". However, the set also contained editorial introductions to the selections, which were generally not included in the "Great Books". In another departure from the "Great Books" series, the set included black-and-white drawings of most of the authors by