Brave New World

Aldous Huxley · 1894–1963 · England

Why it matters

In a World State that breeds citizens by caste and dissolves discontent with soma and conditioning, a visitor from a reservation exposes what's been engineered out of being human. The century's other great dystopia: happiness enforced instead of terror.

At a glance

Clear, brisk prose; the unease is conceptual and builds cumulatively.