The Iron Heel
by Jack London
Buy on AmazonGenerally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian," it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes.
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"Many dystopian novels are cautionary tales. I’m sure the authors have that in mind when they write – it’s a warning to their contemporaries. Jack London wrote about a world where American democracy degenerates into an oligarchic state, very similar to a fascist state. I don’t think he ever used the word fascist, but it was a fascist state. That was his warning at the time, in the early decades of the 20th century. This is a tradition that we need to remind ourselves of when we think about contemporary China. It also aroused a lot of interest in the United States after 9/11, when Bush junior’s new policies were branded as a new form of state fascism – that’s a bit of an overstretch, I know."
Dystopia and Utopia · fivebooks.com