Samuel Butler, (born Dec. 4, 1835, Langar Rectory, Nottinghamshire, Eng.died June 18, 1902, London), English novelist, essayist, and critic whose satire Erewhon (1872) foreshadowed the collapse of the Victorian illusion of eternal progress. The Way of All Flesh (1903), his autobiographical novel, is generally considered his masterpiece. Jack London, pseudonym of John Griffith Chaney, (born January 12, 1876, San Francisco, California, U.S.died November 22, 1916, Glen Ellen, California), American novelist and short-story writer whose best-known worksamong them The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906)depict elemental struggles for survival. During the 20th century he was one of the most extensively translated of American authors. H.G. Wells, in full Herbert George Wells, (born September 21, 1866, Bromley, Kent, Englanddied August 13, 1946, London), English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds and such comic novels as Tono-Bungay and The History of Mr. Polly.