List Books Supposing The Iron Heel
| Original Title: | The Iron Heel |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Avis Everhard, Anthony Meredith, Ernest Everhard |
| Setting: | United States of America |
| Literary Awards: | Prometheus Hall of Fame Award Nominee for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel (1986) |
Jack London
Audiobook | Pages: 354 pages Rating: 3.76 | 7851 Users | 606 Reviews
Mention Epithetical Books The Iron Heel
| Title | : | The Iron Heel |
| Author | : | Jack London |
| Book Format | : | Audiobook |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 354 pages |
| Published | : | July 2010 by Librivox (first published 1908) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Science Fiction. Dystopia. Classics. Politics. Literature. Novels |
Explanation In Favor Of Books The Iron Heel
The Iron Heel by Jack London is Upton Sinclair meets Wolf Larson.Described by many as the first of the modern dystopian novels, this one takes a strongly socialist stance, clearly espousing this ideology in lengthy diatribes. While reading this work I frequently compared to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, but in contrast. Both novels ambitiously seek a prophetic tone, but both ultimately wind up as monological propaganda with straw man arguments propped up in opposition.
The Iron Heel does have the good taste to not run over 1,000 pages. Another of London’s works, the short story The Mexican espouses London's feelings as well, deeply sympathetic to socialist causes and centers around romantic heroism of its champions.
One aspect of the Iron Heel that was amazing, and truly prophetic was London’s uncanny ability to forecast power plays of government, especially the rise of Hitler’s Germany, some thirty years after the release of The Iron Heel. Social and political critics of modern day capitalism could also look to this 1908 publication to show how the rich get richer and labor unions have been bought out and find themselves underpowered to react.
Rating Epithetical Books The Iron Heel
Ratings: 3.76 From 7851 Users | 606 ReviewsColumn Epithetical Books The Iron Heel
Wow...Wow....OK, ok....First off...this is not your regular Jack London stuff, hell I didn't even know he was a socialist till reading this. This is a dystopian novel, an odd book, supposedly a manuscript dug up around the year 2700, this manuscript chronicles events that take place in the early 20th century as capitalism develops into a sort of oligarchy. The reader is given footnotes by a historian from 2700 who is trying to explain the strangeness of some of our history to his contemporariesMy old 1970ish paperback has an introduction by Howard Zinn that's very well done. My only prior reading of Zinn was his A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn. I don't care for him too much as a historian due to his bias, but he is readable. He seems to like "Iron Heel" a lot, too.My first impression was a weird one. It kind of reminds me of Atlas Shrugged for some reason. I don't think London & Rand could be further apart politically, though. Every comparison
My father loved Jack London. When I was a child, in his library, the little room under the stairs, there were faded copies of 'White Fang' and 'Call of the Wild' that had both seen better days. I wish Dad had got beyond the boy's own adventure output that made London famous; I think it would have helped to explain some things that troubled him throughout his life.For 'The Iron Heel' is a fine socialist text but it is not just this. Certainly the book influenced George Orwell and a stream of
A dystopian novel, the precursor to Orwells 1984, that has echoes of todays ascendance of the One Percent, or the Oligarchy as London called it during his day.The device used to convey the story is an interesting one: a historical record kept by the wife, Avis Everhard, of the founder of the Revolution, Ernest Everhard, of an uprising that raged against the Oligarchy for 300 years before Socialism finally took hold in the form of the Brotherhood of Man (BOM); this manuscript has been found 700
Jack London wrote a dystopia! Did you know that? I didn't! It is terrible.The first 75% is pure political screed. And not very well scrode, either; it's hysterically and ineptly scridden. Jack London was a socialist, and this book makes socialism look bad through its sheer incompetence. (By the way, that Lincoln quote didn't happen.) The fact that I happen to agree with the basic ideas here doesn't make the book any less boring.When the plot finally does kick in, it's...well, who cares what it
Its like reading a left-wing Ayn Rand and in no way is that a good thing. As much as I take issue with Londons politics, Im even more disappointed with the poor writing. I love Martin Eden and I enjoy his adventure stories, but this is truly terrible. Wooden characters, ridiculous dialogue, a terrible plot... this is one of only three books that I hurled across the room after I finished reading because I was so disgusted. Im baffled that it has any good reviews. Every second spent reading this
This was a major piece of dystopian fiction. I am surprised it is not as well known as London's other works.I would suggest reading this along with Orwell's "Animal Farm".
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