• The best books on Utopia - The City of God by Augustine
  • The best books on Utopia - Utopia by Thomas More
  • The best books on Utopia - A Modern Utopia by H G Wells
  • The best books on Utopia - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • The best books on Utopia - Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism by Chris Jennings

The best books on Utopia, recommended by Ellen Wayland-Smith

Utopia is out of fashion because efforts to set one up normally end disastrously, says author Ellen Wayland-Smith, whose forefathers set up a utopian religious community in the 1840s in Oneida, New York. And yet, they offer a critique of society that, even today, can’t be ignored. She recommends four books on literary utopias and one on real-life attempts to set up idealized communities in the United States.