The Postapocalyptic Jack London

Postapocalyptic novels and films--"The Hunger Games," "Divergence"--are currently popular, particularly with teenage readers. But there is nothing new about the genre--the first postapocalyptic novel we have is "The Epic of Gilgamesh," which is roughly 4,500 years old.

We were surprised, however, to find a postapocalyptic tale by Jack London, better known for "White Fang," "The Sea Wolf" and "The Call of the Wild." London's little known "The Scarlet Plague," published in 1912, is set in the ravaged world of 2072. One of its characters finds a coin dated 2012, and says, "That was the year Morgan the Fifth was appointed President of the United States by the Board of Magnates. It must have been one of the last coins minted, for the Scarlet Death came in 2013. Lord! Lord!--think of it! Sixty years ago and I am the only person alive today that lived in those times."

So we can relax. It's 2014, and we're still here. We've escaped the Scarlet Death. And Morgan the Fifth.

Meanwhile, surely somewhere a movie producer is itching to turn London's postapocalyptic tale into a blockbuster film. If "itching" isn't an inappropriate word.