The Scarlet Plague

By: Jack London

Narrated by: James Roth

Jack London (1876-1916) was a journalist and a pioneer and innovator in the science fiction genre. The story of The Scarlet Plague takes place in 2073 in the San Francisco area, 60 years after an apocalyptic pandemic called the Red Death or Scarlet Plague has depopulated the Earth. James Smith, one of the survivors, lives with his grandsons who are hunter-gatherers in a tribal world. He relates the horror of the plague to them, and tells them of the time when he was a professor of English, and of the start of the pandemic. His grandsons, who are of limited cognitive ability, refuse to believe him; they cannot believe that the disease was spread by germs as they cannot see them.

Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks