Determined to crush the working class at any cost, a brutal dictatorship incites a paranoid atmosphere of witch-hunting hysteria, employing gangs of thugs to stifle free speech. Avis Everhard, wife of a labor leader, narrates this gripping novel. In moving terms, she reveals the wretched poverty that props up aristocratic wealth and recounts the desperate struggles of revolutionaries against the insidious rise of the Iron Heel.
Written more than a century ago, Jack London's harrowing vision of class warfare and a totalitarian state anticipates the development of fascism, the spread of terrorism, and the oppressive forces of government surveillance and authority. A short novel with remarkable depth, it continues to resonate with modern readers as both a satire and a warning. Part science fiction, part dystopian fantasy, part radical socialist tract, The Iron Heel is a masterpiece of american literature.
