{{Short description|1907 novel by Jack London}} {{italic title}} {{Multiple issues| {{more citations needed|date=June 2010}} {{one source|date=June 2010}} }} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[File:BeforeAdam.jpg|thumb|First edition (publ. Macmillan)]] '''''Before Adam''''' is a novel by Jack London, serialized in 1906 and 1907 in ''Everybody's Magazine''.<ref name="SonomaEdu-BeforeAdam"/> It is the story of a man who dreams he lives the life of an early hominid.
The story offers an early view of human evolution. The majority of the story is told through the eyes of the man's hominid alter ego, one of the Cave People. In addition to the Cave People, there are the more advanced Fire People, and the more animal-like Tree People.
Other characters include the hominid's father, a love interest, and Red-Eye, a fierce "atavism" that perpetually terrorizes the Cave People. A sabre-cat also plays a role in the story.
Later scholars have noted strong eugenic themes in ''Before Adam''.<ref>Hensley, John R. “Eugenics and Social Darwinism in Stanley Waterloo's ‘The Story of Ab’ and Jack London's ‘Before Adam.’” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 25, no. 1, 2002, pp. 23–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23415006.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist | refs =
<ref name="SonomaEdu-BeforeAdam">{{cite web | title = Jack London: Before Adam | work = london.sonoma.edu | url = http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/BeforeAdam/ | accessdate = 2011-08-29 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721192545/http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/BeforeAdam/ | archivedate = July 21, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
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==External links== {{Wikisource|Before Adam|''Before Adam''}} * {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/jack-london/before-adam}} * {{Gutenberg|no=310|name=Before Adam}} * {{librivox book | title=Before Adam | author=Jack London}} * {{ISFDB title|16739}}
{{Jack London novels}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1907 American novels Category:1907 English-language novels Category:1907 science fiction novels Category:Novels by Jack London Category:Prehistoric people in popular culture Category:Novels set in prehistory Category:Works originally published in Everybody's Magazine Category:Novels first published in serial form Category:American science fiction novels
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