Dystopian Literature
1516-01-01 00:00:00
Utopia
First use of word "utopia" by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 work Utopia.
1868-01-01 00:00:00
Dystopia
First use of the word "dystopia" by John Stuart Mill in a parliamentary speech.
1898-04-25 17:30:35
Spanish-American War
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1898-06-12 00:00:00
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
First novel about an alien invasion on earth Adapted into film in 1953 and again in 2005
1898-12-15 16:30:34
Boxer Rebellion
anti-imperialist rebellion in China
1899-10-14 02:45:25
Second Boer War
United Kingdom vs South African Republic and Orange Free State. U.K. won and both states were annexed
1903-07-02 10:27:48
First controlled flight by Wright Brothers
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1907-11-26 22:00:49
Bloody Sunday - Revolution of 1905 in Russia
unarmed protestors shot in Russia, beginning of revolution
1908-03-05 20:55:39
The Iron Heel by Jack London
oligarchic tyranny in the U.S.
1914-07-28 00:00:00
World War 1
1915-07-21 10:01:22
Armenian Genocide
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1917-03-08 03:53:26
Russian Revolution of 1917
revolutions against Tsarist autocracy
1921-01-01 00:00:00
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
nation made almost entirely of glass, allowing government to invade spy on people, everyone referred to by their number
1922-01-23 03:20:22
Benito Mussolini rules in Kingdom of Italy
fascism - a form of political authoritarian nationalism
1924-09-12 04:31:05
FBI founded by President Hoover
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1929-12-18 15:11:16
Great Depression
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1932-01-01 00:00:00
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
societal changes and developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning
1934-03-27 10:54:11
Mao Zedong proclaims Chinese Soviet Republic
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1937-07-01 00:00:00
Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin
an anti-fascist dystopian novel
1939-09-01 12:59:11
World War 2
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1941-09-14 00:33:36
The Holocaust
1945-08-06 00:33:36
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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1945-08-17 13:41:58
Animal Farm by George Orwell
allegory of Russian Revolution of 1917
1946-05-20 12:26:39
First images of Earth taken from space
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1947-01-01 12:10:41
The Cold War
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1947-02-14 13:51:57
Truman Doctrine
to contain communism
1949-01-01 00:00:00
1984 by George Orwell
tyrannical government - Big Brother
1949-07-14 13:59:04
Soviet Union tests atomic bomb
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1952-08-31 04:17:48
Detonation of Hydrogen bomb
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1953-01-01 00:00:00
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
society in which books are outlawed
1954-09-03 21:54:39
Brown vs. Board of Education
orders to end segregation in schools
1954-09-17 15:24:06
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
British boys get stuck on abandoned island; poses questions about human nature
1956-07-23 04:55:30
The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
three psychic mutants used to track down potential criminals in an effort to prevent prime; questions free will later adapted into film by Steven Spielberg (2002)
1957-01-05 14:18:18
Space Age
beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1, the time period that includes the space race, space exploration, and space technology
1959-10-31 01:46:04
Vietnam War
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1960-07-23 04:55:30
Facial Justice by L.P. Hartley
society in which people have faces surgically altered so no one is too beautiful or too ugly
1961-04-02 06:49:58
Peace Corps founded
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1962-01-01 00:00:00
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
depicts extreme youth violence and how and to what extent the state tries to reform the youth
1962-04-02 06:49:58
Cuban Missile Crisis
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1963-07-23 04:55:30
La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle
apes become the dominant species and humans become animal-like later adapted into 1968 film Planet of the Apes
1963-11-09 10:53:48
MLK Jr. "I Have a Dream" Speech
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1964-07-23 04:55:30
The Old Men at the Zoo by Angus Wilson
set in London during a nuclear war with dystopian dictatorship over all of Europe
1967-07-23 04:55:30
The Tripods by John Christopher
post-apocalyptic young adult series in which humans are ensalved by "Tripods" machines controlled by aliens
1968-07-23 04:55:30
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
explores what it is to be a human - poses the differences between humans and androids
1969-07-23 04:55:30
The Jagged Orbit by John Brunner
interracial tensions combined with selling and use of weapons in US 2014
1970-07-23 04:55:30
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
technocratic dystopia, world run by central computer technocracy - government run by those with technological knowledge
1971-11-22 21:07:49
Invention of the microchip
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1972-07-23 04:55:30
The Sheep Look Up
science fiction, environmental problems that lead to rioting in the U.S.
1974-11-01 17:03:57
World population reaches 4 billion
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1975-07-23 04:55:30
High Rise by J.G. Ballard
future overpopulated world, takes place in a high rise