The Woman Behind Jack London: Charmian Kittredge London
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, best known as the wife of Jack London, Charmian Kittredge London was far more than a companion to a literary giant. She was a writer, photographer, athlete, traveler, and intellectual partner whose contributions were long overlooked or misrepresented. Author and historian Iris Jamal Dunkle shares the story behind her groundbreaking biography, the first full-length account devoted solely to Charmian’s life. From global voyages aboard the Snark to creative collaboration, personal loss, and public erasure, this is the story of a remarkable woman whose legacy is finally being restored to its rightful place in American literary history.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.0 | And we continue with our American stories. |
| 0:17.5 | And up next, we have the story of Charmian, Kitridge, London, brought to us by author Iris |
| 0:22.9 | Jamal Dunkel. Dunkel is a teacher at Napa Valley College in California. She has loved Jack |
| 0:29.2 | London ever since she went on a field trip to Jack London State Park when she was in middle school. |
| 0:35.2 | This field trip sparked within her a desire to make writing |
| 0:39.3 | her life. Here's faith with the story. Jack Linden, best-selling American author, is known for |
| 0:49.2 | his adventure stories, such as Call of the Wild and the Seaolf, along with his popular short story to build a fire. |
| 0:57.0 | But he was not only famous for his writings. |
| 1:00.2 | During his time, Hugh was truly a celebrity. |
| 1:03.4 | He was known for his world travels and his adventures and boat trips around the globe. |
| 1:08.9 | But what many people do not know is that London was hardly a solo |
| 1:13.6 | traveler. Many of his trips, he was accompanied by his second wife, Charmian-Kittridge London. |
| 1:21.0 | We have known very little about Charmion. It's only as of 2020 that the first full-length |
| 1:26.4 | biography on Charmian- Kittred London was published |
| 1:29.2 | by Iris Jamal Dunkel. We come to find that she herself was a writer and adventurer, |
| 1:35.0 | and so much more than just Jack London's wife. Here is author Iris Jamal Duncle and how she came |
| 1:40.9 | across Charmion when she was looking through a book of poems and found a very |
| 1:44.5 | famous picture of Jack London. |
| 1:47.2 | The picture of Jack London on the hillside, on his horse, he's actually on Sonoma Mountain. |
| 1:53.5 | And it said, taken by Charmian Kittrich London. |
... |
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