The Iron Heel

The Iron Heel


The Iron Heel (1908) is considered one of the earliest novels of modern Dystopian Fiction, which would lead to works later known as Soft Science Fiction. Jack London, a socialist himself, portrays America under tyrannical rule. It is based on Avis Everhard's fictional "Everhard Manuscript" and was written by London as a woman's first person narrative, not a common writing style at the time. [Note that "philomath" (chapter V) is a Greek word meaning lover of learning.] The book's epigraph:

“At first, this Earth, a stage so gloomed with woe
You almost sicken at the shifting of the scenes.
And yet be patient. Our Playwright may show
In some fifth act what this Wild Drama means.”


Table of Contents

Forward

Chapter I - My Eagle

Chapter II - Challenges

Chapter III - jackson's Arm

Chapter IV - Slaves of the Machine

Chapter V - The Philomaths

Chapter VI - Adumbrations

Chapter VII - The Bishop's Vision

Chapter VIII - The Machine Breakers

Chapter IX - The Mathematics of a Dream

Chapter X - The Vortex

Chapter XI - The Great Adventure

Chapter XII - The Bishop

Chapter XIII - The General Strike

Chapter XIV - The Beginning of the End

Chapter XV - Last Days

Chapter XVI - The End

Chapter XVII - The Scarlet Livery

Chapter XVIII - In the Shadow of Sonoma

Chapter XIX - Transformation

Chapter XX - A Lost Oligarch

Chapter XXI - The Roaring Abysmal Beast

Chapter XXII - The Chicago Commune

Chapter XXIII - The People of the Abyss

Chapter XXIV - Nightmare

Chapter XXV - The Terrorists

Return to the Jack London library.

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