Looking Backward Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829 urn:isbn:155709506X en 1888 Novels Science Fiction Set in Boston on December 26, 2000, but written before the turn of the nineteenth century, this classic Utopian novel is more significant and relevant than ever with its reappearance this millennium. Addressing moral and material concerns of late nineteenth century industrial America through romantic narrative, Bellamy suggests a fictionalized society in which war, poverty, and malice do not exist. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/829.mobi Dr. Heidenhoff's Process Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/823 en 1880 Novels Science Fiction Dr. Heidenhoff has the perfect solution for unwanted memories. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/823.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/823.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/823.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/823.mobi Lord of the World Robert Hugh Benson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462 urn:isbn:8184565224 en 1907 Novels Science Fiction Religion In or about the year 2000, humanity has reached "that incredibly lofty goal to which its intrinsic efforts can carry it" — but rejected everything but crass materialism. Technology has advanced to the point where no one need work for a living, while the social sciences have achieved a smoothly-running if almost unbearably sterile social order. Formal religious beliefs except for Catholicism have been uprooted and eliminated as coherent systems, and the Catholic Church has been completely discredited in the eyes of the world, finally being outlawed. The result is everything the late Victorians and Edwardians believed would bring human happiness — and which brings nothing but the advent of new superstitions, despair, and the end of the world … maybe. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2462.mobi The Iron Heel Jack London http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381 en 1908 Novels Science Fiction Politics The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Generally 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. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.mobi News from Nowhere William Morris http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2415 en 1890 Novels Science Fiction Fantasy News from Nowhere (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. In the book, the narrator, William Guest, falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the Socialist League and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production. In this society there is no private property, no big cities, no authority, no monetary system, no divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems. This agrarian society functions simply because the people find pleasure in nature, and therefore they find pleasure in their work. The book explores a number of aspects of this society, including its organisation and the relationships which it engenders between people. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2415.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2415.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2415.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2415.mobi The Napoleon of Notting Hill Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683 urn:isbn:0955519624 en 1904 Novels Humor/Satire Politics The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly-unchanged London in 1984. Though the novel deals with the future, it concentrates not on technology nor on totalitarian government but on a government where no one cares what happens, comparable to Fahrenheit 451 in that respect. The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen. To amuse himself, he institutes elaborate costumes for the provosts of the districts of London. All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill. While the novel is humorous (one instance has the King sitting on top of an omnibus and speaking to it as to a horse: "Forward, my beauty, my Arab," he said, patting the omnibus encouragingly, "fleetest of all thy bounding tribe"), it is also an adventure story: Chesterton is not afraid to let blood be drawn in his battles, fought with sword and halberd in the London streets, and Wayne thinks up a few ingenious strategies; and, finally, the novel is philosophical, considering the value of one man's actions and the virtue of respect for one's enemies. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.mobi Miss Ludington's Sister Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/825 urn:isbn:1426450443 en 1884 Novels Science Fiction The happiness of some lives is distributed pretty evenly over the whole stretch from the cradle to the grave, while that of others comes all at once, glorifying some particular epoch and leaving the rest in shadow. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/825.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/825.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/825.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/825.mobi An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210 urn:isbn:0679783369 en 1776 Non-Fiction Science Politics Adam Smith's masterpiece, first published in 1776, is the foundation of modern economic thought and remains the single most important account of the rise of, and the principles behind, modern capitalism. Written in clear and incisive prose, The Wealth of Nations articulates the concepts indispensable to an understanding of contemporary society. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.mobi Four-Day Planet Henry Beam Piper http://www.feedbooks.com/book/310 urn:isbn:B001713C4W en 1961 Novels Science Fiction Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. When that kind of person discovers he's being cheated of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/310.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/310.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/310.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/310.mobi The Galaxy Primes Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith http://www.feedbooks.com/book/826 urn:isbn:0586040021 en 1959 Novels Science Fiction The Pleiades was Earth's first starship, and it could travel anywhere instantaneously -- but where it ended up could not be predicted... or even if the ship could return to Earth! Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/826.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/826.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/826.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/826.mobi Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675 urn:isbn:B00146LZ1C en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.mobi The Law Frédéric Bastiat http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770 urn:isbn:9562910113 en 1849 Non-Fiction Essay Politics The Law, original French title La Loi, is a 1849 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was published one year after the third French Revolution of 1848 and one year before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke's Second Treatise on Government and in turn influenced Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous along with The candlemaker's petition and the Parable of the broken window. In The Law, Bastiat states that "each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property". The State is a "substitution of a common force for individual forces" to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one's right to self-defense in favor of another's acquired right to plunder. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.mobi Manifesto of the Communist Party Karl Marx Friedrich Engels http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209 urn:isbn:0192834371 en 1848 Non-Fiction Politics Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League and written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it laid out the League's purposes and program. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian (working class) revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and to eventually bring about a classless and stateless society, and the abolition of private property. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.mobi Paradise Lost John Milton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174 urn:isbn:0393924289 en 1667 Poetry Religion Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.mobi The World Set Free H. G. Wells http://www.feedbooks.com/book/831 urn:isbn:080329820X en 1914 Novels Science Fiction THE WORLD SET FREE was written in 1913 and published early in 1914, and it is the latest of a series of three fantasias of possibility, stories which all turn on the possible developments in the future of some contemporary force or group of forces. The World Set Free was written under the immediate shadow of the Great War. Every intelligent person in the world felt that disaster was impending and knew no way of averting it, but few of us realised in the earlier half of 1914 how near the crash was to us. The reader will be amused to find that here it is put off until the year 1956. Noteworthy for its depiction of fictional ''atomic bombs'' which eerily prefigure the development of real nuclear weapons. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/831.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/831.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/831.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/831.mobi The Jungle Upton Sinclair http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384 en 1906 Novels Politics The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and socialist journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones the poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the "have-nots", which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption on the part of the "haves". The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American "wage slavery". The novel is also an important example of the "muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered little means for progressive change. Upton Sinclair came to Chicago with the intent of writing The Jungle; he had been given a stipend by the socialist newspaper The Appeal to Reason. Upon his arrival in the lobby of the Chicago Transit House, a hotel near the stockyards, he was quoted as saying, "Hello! I'm Upton Sinclair, and I'm here to write the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Labor Movement!" (Arthur, 43). He rented living quarters and immediately immersed himself in the city by walking its streets, talking to its people, and taking pictures. One Sunday afternoon, he worked his way into a group of Asian immigrants getting together for a wedding party – "Behold, there was the opening scene of my story, a gift from the gods". He was welcomed to the festivities and stayed until two o'clock in the morning. The novel was first published in serial form in 1906 by The Appeal to Reason. "After five rejections", its first edition as a novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906, and it became an immediate bestseller. It has been in print ever since. Source: Wikipedia This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.mobi The Infinite Sea Jeffrey A. Carver http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2985 urn:isbn:0812535170 en 1997 Novels Science Fiction Interstellar troubleshooter John Bandicut returns for an amiably routine third installment (after Strange Attractors) in Carvel's Chaos Chronicles, journeying to a world where the dominant civilization, the Neri, live under the sea. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2985.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2985.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2985.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2985.mobi Eugenics and Other Evils Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719 urn:isbn:1587420023 en 1922 Philosophy Essay Science Collections Politics From the introduction: "I publish these essays at the present time for a particular reason connected with the present situation; a reason which I should like briefly to emphasise and make clear. Though most of the conclusions, especially towards the end, are conceived with reference to recent events, the actual bulk of preliminary notes about the science of Eugenics were written before the war.[...]" This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.mobi Common Sense Thomas Paine http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850 urn:isbn:0486296024 en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Enormously popular and widely read pamphlet, first published in January of 1776, clearly and persuasively argues for American separation from Great Britain and paves the way for the Declaration of Independence. This highly influential landmark document attacks the monarchy, cites the evils of government and combines idealism with practical economic concerns. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.mobi The Coming Race Edward Bulwer-Lytton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2582 urn:isbn:1438215754 en 1871 Novels Science Fiction The Power of The Coming Race is a powerful novel that fired the imagination of readers starting in the 1870's. Among the earliest examples of what would become the genre of science fiction, among many authors it influenced H. G. Wells, Samuel Butler, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The book tells the story of a young American adventurer who discovers a portal to an underground world at the bottom of a mine shaft. In this world lives a highly advanced race, with a dark secret. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2582.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2582.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2582.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2582.mobi