Early dystopian literature

Dystopian fiction fascinates us because it draws on aspects of our own world. Mirroring elements of society, the environment, religion, politics or technology, the best dystopian books present a world that, though eerily familiar, is much more frightening than our own.

From the misogynist dystopia of The Handmaids Tale and Margaret Atwood's sequel The Testaments, to a world changed forever by a deadly pandemic in Emily St. John Mandel's dystopian novel Station Eleven, the best dystopian fiction often carries a warning for the future. George Orwell's1984in particular only seems to grow in relevance, andDorian Lynskeydiscusses the novel's fascinating history in his bookThe Ministry of Truth. Here are some of the most sinister, and some might argue prescient, dystopian novels ever written.