Here, collected in a single volume, are the most popular verses of the great English-born Canadian poet. His famous ballads of the Klondike are here: “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” “The Spell of the Yukon,” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” Also included are unforgettable portrayals of the artists, grisettes, and models of the merry, tragic life of bohemian Paris, and other verses inspire by the First World War, during which Service drove an ambulance in France. And not to be overlooked are the many expressions of the poet’s own homespun philosophy—his comments on women, on life and death, ambition, and success and failure, which strike a responsive chord in the reader’s heart. Gaiety, humor, nostalgia, and pathos fill every page, along with the genuine Service ring of virility which has made his verse loved throughout the English reading world.

Robert Service's time in the Yukon, at first as a transplanted bank clerk and later living off the royalties of poems like "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee," is the core of a fascinating life. Starving in Mexico, residing in a

Over 100 poems portray the trials and tribulations of Gold Rush pioneers, as well as Service's days in France and his experiences serving in World War I in the American Ambulance Corps. Some favorites include, The Cremation of Sam McGee, The Law of the Yukon, The Shooting of Dan McGrew and Bessie's Boil.

Verses chronicling the Klondike gold rush and immortalizing the colourful characters of the Yukon Territory.