Play Audiobook Sample
The Scarlet Plague Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.02) - 692 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
Outside the ruins of San Francisco, a former UC Berkeley professor of literature recounts the chilling sequence of events which led to his current lowly state - a gruesome pandemic which killed nearly every living soul on the planet, in a matter of days. Modern civilization tottered and fell, and a new race of barbarians - the western world's brutalized workers - assumed power everywhere. Over the space of a few decades, all learning has been lost. Unlike the professor on Gilligan's Island, the narrator is the least useful member of a thriving tribe, whose younger generation (who boast names like Hoo-Hoo and Har-Lip) are mostly descended from the tribe's brutish founder. He was known only by the title of his former occupation, so the tribe's name is: Chauffeur.
Download and start listening now!
"Jack London is one of my favorite American authors. Given the chance to read a post-apocalyptic book by London was a no brainer. This was very much a predecessor to WWZ in the fact that the concept was an oral history of the worlds dimise. A story of a man who lived through the events has now grown old in the world after and is telling his experiences to children brought up in a completely different time. The careful planning and plotting was great and the way he was able to show a gap between generations and how some things may be lost to time in this new society was very compelling. This book was a great short read."
— David (4 out of 5 stars)
The Scarlet Plague Listener Reviews
-
" It's always a men's world in Jack London's books and it doesn't matter if it is after the apocalypse of men. Even tough I am a woman, he is my favorite writer. "
— Kat, 2/8/2014 -
" I read only the title story, a fascinating piece of sf set right about now (2012-13) following the destruction of human civilization by plague. An early 20th-c meditation on devolution. "
— Ereck, 1/20/2014 -
" Granser is the last human to remember the world before the Scarlet Plague. He tells of this world to his savage grandsons. Remarkably insightful as to the future and melancholy regarding the fate of mankind this is a surprising gem from Jack London. Not expected from the writer of Whitefang. Free on Amazon Kindle. "
— Mike, 1/14/2014 -
" A remarkably prescient tale for our times told briskly by one of the great masters of the short story. "
— Paul, 1/10/2014 -
" This is my favorite Jack London story. I think this was his only sci fi story. Sci fi language is always so geeky but London's prose is very foreboding and tough, and this lends a very creepy and threatening feel to the story. "
— Tim, 1/8/2014 -
" A book about the future, written in 1912. Ambitious. Lovely read. "
— Chichi, 1/6/2014 -
" This story tells of the destruction of civilization by way of a scarlet fever-like plague. This short story is told by an old man who lived through the plague the laments the loss of his way of life. This is London's vision of who will run the world in 2012. "
— Kel, 12/20/2013 -
" Really liked. Thought it was too short! "
— Rachel, 12/12/2013 -
" Interesting work, thought provoking without being gory, like other apocalyptic works. Mainly deals with the loss of knowledge and collapse of human social structure/norms/devolution following depopulation via a large scale pandemic. "
— Brett's, 12/7/2013 -
" very quick short story "
— red_molly, 4/7/2013 -
" An "after-the-end" story on the order of The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Some of London's prejudices show through, though I thought some might be character-driven. I'll be reading London's "The Iron Heel" next to explore some of his other fears and visions for the future. "
— Rod, 1/10/2013 -
" I read this when I was in my teens, looking for science fiction.. A great creepy atmosphere... "
— Debby, 2/26/2012 -
" A post apocolytic vision of a post plague world. Quite interesting in the way it views the current world. "
— Chris, 1/13/2012 -
" 'Dystopian Plague Classic'. Jack London goes all sci-fi, classic. "
— Paperback, 1/18/2011 -
" Short, well written, foretelling. "
— Gabriel, 11/22/2010 -
" It's the progenitor of all "Last Man" fiction. You can see it inspired "The Book of Eli". "
— Dave, 10/28/2010 -
" This wasn't great. I liked White Fang and Call of the Wild much better. "
— Clara, 10/5/2010
About Jack London
Jack London (1876–1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. Before making a living at his writing, he spent time as an oyster pirate, a sailor, a cannery worker, a gold miner, and a journalist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction writing. He is best known for his novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set during the Klondike gold rush, as well as the short stories “To Build a Fire,” “An Odyssey of the North,” and “Love of Life.” He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as “The Pearls of Parlay” and “The Heathen.” He was a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers and wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics, including The Iron Heel, The People of the Abyss, and The War of the Classes.
About Drew Ariana
Drew Ariana is an actor from Chicago whose training includes a BFA in Drama from the University of Michigan as well as a certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He has done a wide range of audio work from voice-overs in films to ESL iPad apps. He has most recently performed at theaters including the Peterborough Players in New Hampshire, Circle Theatre in Chicago, and the GBS Theatre at RADA.