This month’s book of the month is Kristen Ghodsee’s Everyday Utopia.
Continue reading “Everyday Utopia: Book of the Month November 2023”Everyday Utopia: Book of the Month November 2023
Just Utopias Blog
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: Book of the Month October 2023
This month’s book of the month is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.
Many of us are drawn to utopia because of problems we see with the prevailing consumer capitalist culture. As a result, many utopias (and utopians) are left-leaning. They explore societies that function without capital, without traditional family structures and within ecological boundaries. This bias has been noted, and as a corrective this month’s book is a right wing utopia.
Continue reading “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: Book of the Month October 2023”Fictional utopian languages: Part II – Speedtalk, Pravic
Part II of this three part series, in which Nathan Taylor-Gray explores fictional utopian languages and whether they reflect the utopian ideals of their speakers. If you missed it, you can catch up on Part I here.
Continue reading “Fictional utopian languages: Part II – Speedtalk, Pravic”Triton: Book of the Month September 2023
Continue reading “Triton: Book of the Month September 2023”Bartleby, the co-op member who had been there the longest, loaned him books, weird books he had never heard of, that spoke of other realities, other times, stranger than this one. Joanna Russ, Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler’
‘And The World Was New’, Chana Porter
The Seep: Book of the Month August 2023
In The Seep by Chana Porter, utopia has been brought about by means of an alien invasion. What follows in this novella is a loving pastiche of contemporary utopian tropes. The emotional processing, sensitivity to ecological connections, and community-mindedness. Its diversity in terms of race, gender and sexuality. The abolition of money and the police. And the complete mitigation of human-induced climate change.
Continue reading “The Seep: Book of the Month August 2023”Walden: Book of the Month July 2023
Back in the 1850s, Henry David Thoreau was finding modern life a bit too much. He wanted a simple life, and to be in touch with nature. So, he decided to cut himself off from society and live in the woods. He set up home by Walden Pond, just outside of Concord, Massachussets, the town in which he lived.
Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days in the woods. Walden is his account of this time. The book is a condensed version of events, retold over the span of one year, going through each of the seasons.
Continue reading “Walden: Book of the Month July 2023”Fictional utopian languages: Part I – Utopian, Houyhnhnm
In this new three-part series, Nathan Taylor-Gray explores fictional utopian languages and whether they reflect the utopian ideals of their speakers.
Everything for Everyone: Book of the Month June 2023
So I had to abbreviate the title for this one, it’s on the long side. To give it its full due, June’s book of the month is ‘Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune 2052-2072’ by M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi.
Continue reading “Everything for Everyone: Book of the Month June 2023”New Just Utopias Zine
Issue #1 of the new Just Utopias Zine is now available to view and download at justutopias.com.
Continue reading “New Just Utopias Zine”Walkaway: Book of the Month May 2023
There is a history of walking away in utopia, think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Le Guin) or Thoreau leaving civilisation behind for Walden Pond. So what does Cory Doctorow bring to the table?
Continue reading “Walkaway: Book of the Month May 2023”