An English Teachers Top 40 Dystopian Novels
Discover an English teacher's top 40 dystopian novels—essential reads for literature lovers. Explore classic and modern dystopian books that captivate, challenge, and inspire critical thinking.
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We
by Yevgeny Zamyatin
“[Zamyatin’s] intuitive grasp of the irrational side of totalitarianism— human sacrifice, cruelty as an end in itself—makes [We] superior to Huxley’s [Brave New World].”—George Orwell …
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Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Huxley's story shows a futuristic World State where all emotion, love, art, and human individuality have been replaced by social stability. An ominous warning to …
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Anthem
by Ayn Rand
The year 2005 marks Ayn Rand's Centennial Year. Ayn Rand's classic tale of a future dark age of the greatWe'a world that deprives individuals of …
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Kallocain
by Karin Boye
This classic Swedish novel envisioned a future of drab terror. Seen through the eyes of idealistic scientist Leo Kall, Kallocain's depiction of a totalitarian world …
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Nineteen Eighty-four
by George Orwell
Eternal warfare is the price of bleak prosperity in this satire of totalitarian barbarism.
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Bend Sinister
by Vladimir Nabokov
The first novel Nabokov wrote while living in America and the most overtly political novel he ever wrote, Bend Sinister is a modern classic. While …
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The Demolished Man
by Alfred Bester
In 2301, a psychopathic business magnate comes up with the ultimate plan to eliminate his competition and destroy the order of society.
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Player Piano
by Kurt Vonnegut
“A funny, savage appraisal of a totally automated American society of the future.”—San Francisco Chronicle Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer …
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Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag is a fireman, his job is to burn books, which are forbidden.
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A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller
Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, …
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
A masterpiece ahead of its time, a prescient rendering of a dark future, and the inspiration for the blockbuster film Blade Runner One of The …
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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (The New York …
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Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The first volume in the internationally acclaimed MaddAddam trilogy is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the …
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In the Country of Last Things
by Paul Auster
From New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster, a dystopian, post-apocalyptic novel “reminiscent in many ways of Orwell’s 1984” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “Powerful, original, imaginative, …
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He, She and It
by Marge Piercy
"A triumph of the imagination. Rich, complex, impossible to put down."—Alice Hoffman In the middle of the twenty-first century, life as we know it has …
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Into the Forest
by Jean Hegland
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two …
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The Lathe of Heaven
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Fearful of the consequences of his dreams that can effect changes in reality, George Orr consults a psychiatrist who tries to make use of Orr's …
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Jennifer Government
by Max Barry
In the near future, corporations rule the world and the one who defies them is pursued relentlessly.
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A Friend of the Earth
by T.C. Boyle
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the award–winning author of The Tortilla Curtain comes an “entertaining and informative” (Chicago Tribune) novel about global warming and ecological collapse. …
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Cloud Atlas
by David Stephen Mitchell
Recounts the connected stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a nineteenth-century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to …
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Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
In a futuristic society filled with chaos, young Lauren Olamina begins a journey that will test her will and ultimately start a new faith. Includes …
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Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
"Enthralling...compelling and truly original." - Denver Post Lauren Olamina's love is divided among her young daughter, her community, and the revelation that led Lauren to …
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The Giver
by Lois Lowry
In a future society, young Jonas is given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, and discovers the terrible truth about the society in …
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Invitation to the Game
by Monica Hughes
Unemployed after high school in the highly robotic society of 2154, Lisse and seven friends resign themselves to a boring existence in their "Designated Area" …
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Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Case, a nerve-damaged data thief, is recruited by a new employer for a last-chance run against a powerful artificial intelligence.
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The Diamond Age
by Neal Stephenson
Vividly imagined, stunningly prophetic, and epic in scope, The Diamond Age is a major novel from one of the most visionary writers of our time …
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Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
The “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired …
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Swan Song
by Robert McCammon
An ancient evil roams the desolate landscape of an America ravaged by nuclear war. He is the Man with the Scarlet Eye, a malevolent force …
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The Sheep Look Up
by John Brunner
"In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some …
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Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the …
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The Children of Men
by P. D. James
In 2021, with the human race becoming extinct because of the infertility of all males, Oxford historian Theodore Faron is drawn into the schemes of …
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The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival …