Rating: 
Summary: Jack London's prophetic 1908 dystopian novel
Review: In 1905 the troops of the Tsar crushed the Russian revolution of 1905. Although the uprising did force Nicholas II to establish a constitution and a parliament, the Russian revolution of 1917 would change the face of the world. However, the uprising also had the interesting effect of inspiring two of the more interesting utopian novels of the early 20th century. One was "Red Star," the socialist utopia on Mars created by the Russian writer Alexander Bogdanov, a Bolshevik and intimate of Lenin. The other was "The Iron Heel," by Jack London, the American author best known for "The Call of the Wild." Whereas Bogdanov forsees the ultimate victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions, London predicts global revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces ending up in an apocalyptic battle betwen the impoverished workers and the privileged minorities. Consequently, the two authors share a common socialist perspective, although Bogdanov writes a utopian novel and London creates a dystopia."The Iron Heel" was written in 1908 and remains one of the more prophetic novels of the 20th century. His track record with regards to a national secret police agency, the rise of Fascism, the creation of attractive suburbs for the middle class while the unemployed and menials live in "ghettoes," is markedly better than that of Edward Belleamy's "Looking Backward," Aldoux Huxley's "Brave New World," or George Orwell's "1984," the novels that are usually lauded and judged by their prescience in terms of utopian literature. The novel presents the story of the American revolutionary Earnest Everhard, as told by his wife Avis, who is actually the more effective revolutionary leader. London tells how the manuscript was unknown for seven centuries, to be discovered long after the final triumph of socialist democracy in the yar 419 B.O.M. Avis Everhard describes the struggles of the working masses against the oligarchy, and how they were ruthlessly suppressed, especially in the Chicago Commune that is the main setting for the action. There is a strong current of violence, with Black Hundreds wrecking the socialist presses,a bomb exploding in the House of Representatives, and revolutionaries being hunted down by the military arm of the government known as the Iron Heel. The Everhard Manuscript breaks off in the middle of a sentence, a footnote explaining that history does not know if the author escaped or was captured. The story is somewhat atypical for London in that it does not represent the white supremacist and male dominant vision of the world we usually find in his novels. London's message is the blatant warning that if you allow the Revolution to be defeated, then the ruling class will "grind you revolutionists down under our heel, and we shall walk upon your faces." Ultimately "The Iron Heel" is a novel whose importance clearly outstrips its literary quality. The problem is that with the end of World War II and the defeat (essentially) of Fascism that London's novel was no longer of interest as the world was confronted with a new set of problems. Yet, London's dytopian novel is one of the works in that genre that deserves to be reconsidered more often.
Rating:
Summary: Jack London's prophetic 1908 dystopian novel
Review: In 1905 the troops of the Tsar crushed the Russian revolution of 1905. Although the uprising did force Nicholas II to establish a constitution and a parliament, the Russian revolution of 1917 would change the face of the world. However, the uprising also had the interesting effect of inspiring two of the more interesting utopian novels of the early 20th century. One was "Red Star," the socialist utopia on Mars created by the Russian writer Alexander Bogdanov, a Bolshevik and intimate of Lenin. The other was "The Iron Heel," by Jack London, the American author best known for "The Call of the Wild." Whereas Bogdanov forsees the ultimate victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions, London predicts global revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces ending up in an apocalyptic battle betwen the impoverished workers and the privileged minorities. Consequently, the two authors share a common socialist perspective, although Bogdanov writes a utopian novel and London creates a dystopia. "The Iron Heel" was written in 1908 and remains one of the more prophetic novels of the 20th century. His track record with regards to a national secret police agency, the rise of Fascism, the creation of attractive suburbs for the middle class while the unemployed and menials live in "ghettoes," is markedly better than that of Edward Belleamy's "Looking Backward," Aldoux Huxley's "Brave New World," or George Orwell's "1984," the novels that are usually lauded and judged by their prescience in terms of utopian literature. The novel presents the story of the American revolutionary Earnest Everhard, as told by his wife Avis, who is actually the more effective revolutionary leader. London tells how the manuscript was unknown for seven centuries, to be discovered long after the final triumph of socialist democracy in the yar 419 B.O.M. Avis Everhard describes the struggles of the working masses against the oligarchy, and how they were ruthlessly suppressed, especially in the Chicago Commune that is the main setting for the action. There is a strong current of violence, with Black Hundreds wrecking the socialist presses,a bomb exploding in the House of Representatives, and revolutionaries being hunted down by the military arm of the government known as the Iron Heel. The Everhard Manuscript breaks off in the middle of a sentence, a footnote explaining that history does not know if the author escaped or was captured. The story is somewhat atypical for London in that it does not represent the white supremacist and male dominant vision of the world we usually find in his novels. London's message is the blatant warning that if you allow the Revolution to be defeated, then the ruling class will "grind you revolutionists down under our heel, and we shall walk upon your faces." Ultimately "The Iron Heel" is a novel whose importance clearly outstrips its literary quality. The problem is that with the end of World War II and the defeat (essentially) of Fascism that London's novel was no longer of interest as the world was confronted with a new set of problems. Yet, London's dytopian novel is one of the works in that genre that deserves to be reconsidered more often.
Rating: 
Summary: a masterful work
Review: Jack London gives a chillingly realistic tale of the rise of "The Iron Heel", which is a term for the capitalists who control some 75%-90% of the wealth of the world and use it to keep power. When Ernest and Avis Everhard try to lead a socialist revolution, The Iron Heel steps up and attempts to crush it. The Iron Heel mercylisly slaughters the proletariat and the socialists. While Eric Blair's (George Orwell) 1984 was a great warning and Zamyatin's We was frighteningly logical, London's The Iron Heel is unquestioningly the most realistic of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Iron Heel bogged down by its own weight
Review: Jack London's efforts at social novels, such as "Iron Heel" and "Martin Eden" were failures, because they are very cardboard and unconvincing. Jack London, the master story teller of the juvenile boys adventure novels, had a social conscience, but was not very good with expressing the social issues of the day, issues which usually belong in manifestos, not in literature. Jack London was no Dostoievsky, a true literary giant.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting story envelops rationale of 20th century socialism.
Review: The genres of science fiction, socialist polemics, utopian and anti-utopian novels, and love stories all
intersect in Jack London's "The Iron Heel".
In the beginning of the story, we meet Eugene Everhard,
proponent of classic 20th century socialism. I am not
aware of any more easily read statement of the principles
of socialism than the first half of this book. It makes
clear the theory of surplus profits causing economic collapse. While the theory is fallacious (accumulating inventories would lead to reduced prices and gradually
reduced production), the matter has historical interest. We feel the excitement of the socialists in their fervent
struggle to build a new and better world.
The electorate in California sends Eugene to Congress,
but the capitalist Oligarchy becomes alarmed and sends
its Mercenaries to arrest and imprison the socialist members of Congress.
The socialists go underground. We follow Eugene's wife
Avis to a rural hideout. Spies of the Oligarchy are everywhere, yet the socialists have infiltrated their
ranks as well. Brave socialists spring Eugene
from prison. After a short visit with Avis, he is off
to the East Coast to inspire the comrades there.
Avis, disguised as an agent of the Oligarchy secret service, arrives in Chicago just as three local Mercenary regiments mutiny. They in turn come under attack
from forces loyal to the Oligarchy and are destroyed.
The Mercenaries then attack the mutineers' support
structure, the workers of Chicago and the impoverished slave underclass.
The description of the battle and the destruction of the city rivals the vividness of Chanson de Roland and we
are awed. The footnotes convey to us the thoughts of an educated
person of the 27th century, hence making a utopian fiction subplot.
You will remember the imagery of "The Iron Heel".
-- Daniel Brockman, Feb 5 1997
Rating:
Summary: Riveting dystopia from the master storyteller.
Review: This is an obscure work in London's corpus, but I'm not sure why. Probably due to his socialistic politcs. This book was doomed to die in the 1950's, but it has survived. This tale comes under "speculative fiction," to wit, Mr. London wiriting in 1910's specualtes about the rise of a Captialistic State and the ubermensch who deigns to overthrow it and establish a Communist Regime. CATCH: the story is told from the point of view of the superman's Lois Lane lover. Imagine, a man's man Jack London assuming the voice of a woman! But that is part of the thrill and appeal of this tiny book. He charachterizes the milieu perfectly. You can breathe the air of anticipation in his letters and syntax. He speculated about a communist revolution in the United states, several years before Red October, and many decades before the Velvet Revolutions of 1989. So he was dead wrong on many things, but he was right in several edge-areas, and these small bulls-eyes kept me going! He is best in communicating the emotion and anticipation of whous could possibly happen if such a revolution did occur. And I think that is part of the book's charm. Read this along-side "1984," "Brave New World/Brave New World Revisited," and "Brazil." This book will help triangualte your ideas. Then read "The Gulag Archipeligo" for the TRUTH!
Rating:
Summary: Riveting dystopia from the master storyteller.
Review: This is an obscure work in London's corpus, but I'm not sure why. Probably due to his socialistic politcs. This book was doomed to die in the 1950's, but it has survived. This tale comes under "speculative fiction," to wit, Mr. London wiriting in 1910's specualtes about the rise of a Captialistic State and the ubermensch who deigns to overthrow it and establish a Communist Regime. CATCH: the story is told from the point of view of the superman's Lois Lane lover. Imagine, a man's man Jack London assuming the voice of a woman! But that is part of the thrill and appeal of this tiny book. He charachterizes the milieu perfectly. You can breathe the air of anticipation in his letters and syntax. He speculated about a communist revolution in the United states, several years before Red October, and many decades before the Velvet Revolutions of 1989. So he was dead wrong on many things, but he was right in several edge-areas, and these small bulls-eyes kept me going! He is best in communicating the emotion and anticipation of whous could possibly happen if such a revolution did occur. And I think that is part of the book's charm. Read this along-side "1984," "Brave New World/Brave New World Revisited," and "Brazil." This book will help triangualte your ideas. Then read "The Gulag Archipeligo" for the TRUTH!
Rating:
Summary: Politically dusty, but still interesting
Review: Who would have thunk it? Jack London, author of "Call of the Wild," wrote a fantasy novel about a socialist revolution in America at the turn of the century. The tired socialist diatribes that form the bulk of this novel are laughable today, but still it's an interesting story. Perhaps even more interesting is that fact that this book, which glorifies socialism, may have been the inspiration for a book that glorifies facism: "The Turner Diaries." And that book, of course, is believed by some to have been the "blueprint" for the Oklahoma City bombing. Fortunately, London's fantasy didn't come true in America, but it did in Russia... and millions of lives were lost as a result.
Rating:
Summary: London's Greatest Work
Review: Why is Jack London's greatest work also the most difficult ot find in print? Too much of the truth lies in its text. Get your hands on a copy of this book while you are still permitted to.
Rating:
Summary: More on Target than Orwell's 1984!
Review: With "The Iron Heel," Jack London does a much better job of predicting today's world than George Orwell's book "1984." London depicts a world where government serves the business community, not the people, and there has been an incredible concentration in the ownership of the means of communication and the media. Speak out against this and the iron heel crushes you. This book is an exciting, political adventure romance that you can't put down -- as long as you get through the first 40 pages of downright boring socialist polemics. If you want to really understand where we are headed, read "The Iron Heel" it today. Hard to believe it was written in 1906.
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