If the Alpha Wolf is a myth, it is also a myth that the concept was bought to popular imagination by Rudolf Schenkel and L. David Mech between the 1940 and 1970s.
Jack London's gold rush books explore this concept in detail, the first of which, Call of the Wild, was published in 1903. These were very popular books, then and still today.
The alpha wolf concept was in public psyche at least in the early 1900s, but probably earlier too. I don't think it is likely that London invented this myth himself and it existed earlier.
Right. The myth actually originates from Social Darwinism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism which was what influenced Jack London's thinking (see "The Call of the Wild", "White Fang" etc.) but at the same time he was also a Socialist (see "The Iron Heel", "The People of the Abyss" etc.) See his "views" section here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London#Views
Jack London's gold rush books explore this concept in detail, the first of which, Call of the Wild, was published in 1903. These were very popular books, then and still today.
The alpha wolf concept was in public psyche at least in the early 1900s, but probably earlier too. I don't think it is likely that London invented this myth himself and it existed earlier.