pickHonestly, a much easier and more straightforward read than I thought to was going to be.
It definitely brings the facts and the stats, and not all of them are encouraging, but in proposing better ideas for the future it helps to present, and properly frame, the mistakes and misconceptions of the past.
An overwhelming proportion of this book is about money and work, but that makes a great deal of sense, from at the very least a subjective 1/?
Here I am, making my sloooooow way through A MODERN UTOPIA. It‘s more interesting than I expected, and Wells has made a solid attempt to balance different perspectives as he crafts his ideal society. That said, this is still very much an early-1900s-style Utopia, and I expect the next chapter, on the role of women, may leave me somewhat scowly.
ALSO, I‘ve realized I have H.G. Wells & George Orwell tangled up in my head. THEY‘RE DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
so-soCharlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 book Herland is a thought-provoking work of utopian fiction and a time capsule of early twentieth-century feminism. On the eve of the First World War, sociology student Vandyck Jennings goes on an expedition with two of his friends to search for a society rumored to consist only of women. On the way to what they will name "Herland," Van and his friends ponder the type of women they hope or expect to see when they...
Herland keeps showing up on feminist book lists I'm trying to read through. Noticed it's book #2 in a trilogy. But book #1 is rarely mentioned. Do I need to read the first to understand what is happening in Herland?
so-soWhile I overall liked this, it was a bit too pedantic, and the all female country was a little too perfect. The practice of eugenics that led to their utopia was, although only mentioned once as history, disturbing. The narrator also views attempted rape in a “boys will be boys” manner. I loved that their society included pockets — lots of them— in the women‘s clothing, showing not much has changed since Gilman wrote this.
Well, it started snowing here, so I‘m inside with Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the lovely cup of tea my husband just made me.
