Part science fiction, part dystopian fantasy, part radical socialist tract, Jack London's The Iron Heel offers a grim depiction of warfare between the classes in America and around the globe. Originally published nearly a hundred years ago, it anticipated many features of the past century, including the rise of fascism, the emergence of domestic terrorism, and the growth of centralized government surveillance and authority. What begins as a war of words ends in scenes of harrowing violence as the state oligarchy, known as "the Iron Heel," moves to crush all opposition to its power. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. "A truer prophecy of the future than either Brave New World or The Shape of Things to Come ." George Orwell "Still more astonishing is the genuinely prophetic vision of the methods by which the Iron Heel will sustain its domination over crushed mankind." Leon Trotsky Jack London  (1876–1916) was born John Chaney in Pennsylvania, USA. In 1896 he was caught up in the gold rush to the Klondike river in north-west Canada, which became the inspiration for  The Call of the Wild ( 1903) and  White Fang (1906). Jack London became one of the most widely read writers in the world. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Introduction Foreword   CHAPTER I - MY EAGLE CHAPTER II - CHALLENGES CHAPTER III - JACKSON’S ARM CHAPTER IV - SLAVES OF THE MACHINE CHAPTER V - THE PHILOMATHS CHAPTER VI - ADUMBRATIONS CHAPTER VII - THE BISHOP’S VISION CHAPTER VIII - THE MACHINE BREAKERS CHAPTER IX - THE MATHEMATICS OF A DREAM CHAPTER X - THE VORTEX CHAPTER XI - THE GREAT ADVENTURE CHAPTER XII - THE BISHOP CHAPTER XIII - THE GENERAL STRIKE CHAPTER XIV - THE BEGINNING OF THE END CHAPTER XV - LAST DAYS CHAPTER XVI - THE END CHAPTER XVII - THE SCARLET LIVERY CHAPTER XVIII - IN THE SHADOW OF SONOMA CHAPTER XIX - TRANSFORMATION CHAPTER XX - A LOST OLIGARCH CHAPTER XXI - THE ROARING ABYSMAL BEAST CHAPTER XXII - THE CHICAGO COMMUNE CHAPTER XXIII - THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS CHAPTER XXIV - NIGHTMARE CHAPTER XXV - THE TERRORISTS   Notes FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE THE IRON HEEL JACK LONDON (1876-1916) led a wild and colorful life. As a youth he left school at fourteen and worked in a cannery, as an oyster pirate, and as a member of the Fish Patrol in San Francisco Bay. He traveled throughout the country, joined the Gold Rush to the Klondike in 1897, sailed to the Caribbean, studied London’s East End slums, and reported on the Russo-Japanese War for the Hearst papers. He read voraciously and always dreamt of being a writer. His short stories of the Yukon were published in magazines and in a collection, The Son of the Wolf, in 1900, bringing him fame. Thereafter he published an enormous number of stories and many novels, including The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Martin Eden .   JONATHAN AUERBACH is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, with degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Johns Hopkins University. In addition to publishing articles and books on such American authors as Poe and London, he has also written extensively on film, particularly early cinema. He has been awarded Fulbright Fellowships to Portugal, Cyprus, and Tunisia, and has lectured on American studies in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Egypt, and Japan. FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE In every corner of the world, on every subject under the sun, Penguin represents quality and variety—the very best in publishing today. For complete information about books available from Penguin—including Penguin Classics, Penguin Compass, and Puffins—and how to order them, write to us at the appropriate address below. Please note that for copyright reasons the selection of books varies from country to country.   In the United States: Please write to Penguin Group (USA), P.O. Box 12289 Dept. B, Newark, New Jersey 07101-5289 or call 1-800-788-6262. In the United Kingdom: Please write to Dept. EP, Penguin Books Ltd, Bath Road, Harmondsworth, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 0DA. In Canada: Please write to Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3. In Australia: Please write to Penguin Books Australia Ltd, P.O. Box 257, Ringwood, Victoria 3134. In New Zealand: Please write to Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 102902, North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland 10. In India: Please write to Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Panchsheel Shopping Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017. In the Netherlands: Please write to Pe