The Iron Heel: Amazon.ca: Jack London: Books

Product Description

From the Back Cover

The Iron Heel transcends genre, juxtaposing science fiction, social polemic and timeless romance. But most significantly, it serves as a warning - unheeded at its time of publication - which is as relevant today as when it was written. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting dystopia from the master storyteller., Nov 4 2001

By	Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Iron Heel (Paperback)

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!

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5.0 out of 5 stars a masterful work, May 12 2000

By	Kathryn G. Moberg "kathybookgirl" (Saline, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Iron Heel (Paperback)

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.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A foreboding tale, Feb 4 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Iron Heel (Paperback)

I have consistently believed that Jack London's social writings are even better than his fictional works. The Iron Heel actually gives a realistic though (on a time scale) exaggerated view of the oppression of individual rights under a government based on a symbiosis between business and the state. London predicted the rise of European fascism with chilling accuracy. London was brilliant to have seen the evils of an all powerful state, but he errs in believing the working class is the only hope against totalitarianism. This work will appeal to social thinkers, historians, literary junkies, science fiction addicts, the dispossessed, as well as people of mass wealth. It would be worth reading once, but it gets better with each subsequent reading.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 1984 and after ?
Everyone reads Jack London's wildlife novels and they are true classics in modern literature, however I find Mr. Read more

Published on Dec 27 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Politically dusty, but still interesting
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. Read more

Published on Aug 27 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars The Iorn heel has become My left foot!!!
I read this book almost 50 years ago. I was so taken with it I made a secret pact with my self, when "when I get out of school, I'm going to become a revolutionary, or at... Read more

Published on Jan 27 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars The Iorn heel has become My left foot!!!
I read this book almost 50 years ago. I was so taken with it I made a secret pact with my self, when "when I get out of school, I'm going to become a revolutionary, or at... Read more

Published on Jan 27 1999 by rontez@lasal.net