After Dachau

By: Daniel Quinn

Narrated by: John McLain

Daniel Quinn, well known for Ishmael - a life-changing book for readers the world over - once again turns the tables and creates an otherworld that is very like our own, yet fascinating beyond words.

Imagine that Nazi Germany was the first to develop an atomic bomb and the Allies surrendered. America was never bombed, occupied, or even invaded, but was nonetheless forced to recognize Nazi world dominance. The Nazis continued to press their campaign to rid the planet of "mongrel races" until eventually the world - from Capetown to Tokyo - was populated by only white faces.

Two thousand years in the future, people don't remember, or much care, about this distant past. The reality is that to be human is to be caucasian, and what came before was literally ancient history and has nothing to do with the living.

Now imagine that reincarnation is real, that souls migrate over time from one living creature to another, and that a soul that once animated an American black woman living at the time of World War II now animates an Aryan in Quinn's new world, and that due to a traumatic accident, memories of this earlier incarnation assert themselves.

Compared by readers and critics alike to 1984 and Brave New World, After Dachau is a new dystopian classic with much to say about our own time, and the dynamics of human history.

©2001 Daniel Quinn (P)2011 Steerforth Press LLC

Critic reviews

"Provocative, Orwellian... [an] absorbing cautionary tale." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Hairpin plot twists that spin wildly from mass genocide to the rediscovery of abstract expressionism.... After Dachau is a rare moral thriller in the tradition of Fahrenheit 451." ( Village Voice Literary Supplement)

"A ghostly and subtle thriller/fantasia/parable about (more or less) how we conceive of history, identity, time. Think Brave New World." ( Esquire)

thought provoking

I feel like reviewing this book might ruin it but let's just say I didn't expect my mind to be twisted in that direction and I wholly appreciate the experience

Thought Provoking & Layered

I read my first Daniel Quinn book in college 25 years ago, and he's been my favorite author ever since. If you're introspective and enjoy thinking through what motivates people to behave and think in a particular way, you will enjoy every Daniel Quinn book. In each book, he reveals an aspect of life we accept as convention, turns it on its head, and gives you a reason to question what you really thought before absorbing the accepted opinion. One of my favorite aspects of his books is their timelessness. The issues addressed apply to the whole human experience. You can reared the same book you read a decade ago, and new insights will be illuminated. As you age and experience the world differenly, you'll find new thoughts in books you've read many times.

unexpectedly expected

as per usual, Daniel Quinn kicks you in the teeth with an amazing turn, you never see coming.

Loved it

One of my all time favorite authors - I really enjoy the reading of his books.

Interesting and unexpected

I enjoyed the book and I can say it had an unexpected turn. While I'm a big fan of Daniel's work, this book was not coming close to his previous work, but it was still good