The Iron Heel

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. Table of MY EAGLE CHALLENGES JOHNSON’S ARM SLAVES OF THE MACHINE THE PHILOMATHS ADUMBRATIONS THE BISHOP’S VISION THE MACHINE BREAKERS THE MATHEMATICS OF A DREAM THE VORTEX THE GREAT ADVENTURE THE BISHOP THE GENERAL STRIKE THE BEGINNING OF THE END LAST DAYS THE END THE SCARLET LIVERY IN THE SHADOW OF SONOMA TRANSFORMATION THE LAST OLIGARCH THE ROARING ABYSMAL BEAST THE CHICAGO COMMUNE THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS NIGHTMARE THE TERRORISTS’ to ‘Set in the future, “The Iron Heel” describes a world in which the division between the classes has deepened, creating a powerful Oligarchy that retains control through terror. A manuscript by rebel Avis Everhard is recovered in an even more distant future, and analyzed by scholar Anthony Meredith. Published in 1908, Jack London’s multi-layered narrative is an early example of the dystopian novel, and its vision of the future proved to be eerily prescient of the violence and fascism that marked the initial half of the 20th century.