The Iron Heel

By: Jack London

Narrated by: Jacques Richey

The Iron Heel by Jack London is a dystopian novel first published in 1908. The narrative is unusual in being a first-person narrative of a woman protagonist written by a man.

Predicting future changes in society and politics, it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. The main narrative covers the years 1912 - 1932, in which the Iron Heel oligarchy arose in the United States.

Canada, Mexico, and Cuba formed their own oligarchies and were aligned with the U.S. while in Asia, Japan created an empire in Asia, and Europe became socialist. (London remains silent as to the fates of South America, Africa, and the Middle East.)

In North America, the Oligarchy hold power for three centuries until it is overthrown by a revolution which ushers in the Brotherhood of Man.

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks

Review

Great book, and although this was written over a hundred years ago, Jack London did a great job at making some accurate predictions and his insight into corporate greed, and its power is very accurate.

Political thoughts:

1) I love the Bishop in this book. He goes to prove a point that the Church should advocate more for those in poverty and he's deemed crazy and cast out. There are some parallels to this in modern society. I think of a Christian minister who said that yes, Black Lives do Matter and his congregation turned on him. Or those ministers who are ousted for saying that the LGBTQ community should have equal rights. Those who have money and are funding the church, can often have a large say in the direction it goes

2) Very smart about the trusts. The less businesses there are in an industry, the easier it is for them to get away with price fixing (we are literally seeing this now after Biden took office and we see it with Big Pharma).

3) I found it interesting that the Oligarchy divided the unions by granting some industries more money/less hours and screwing over others. I should note that this was before the joining of the AFL-CIO. In my experience the only unions that do not have the back of other unions are the police and sometimes the fire (think of the latest legislation that the Republicans did in Florida when they gave carveouts to the police/fire unions from losing their union). I believe this is much less likely to occur. Also, the media is much more far reaching to control a message immediately, even before facts are gathered.

4) Parts of this reminded me of the Red Scare/McCarthyism.

5) Anyone who considers themselves a leftist or an activist would enjoy this book.

Dystopian history of class warfare

History of the rise to power and overthrow of the government by the wealthy class. Details bloody battles for the city of Chicago.

The Iron Heel

This was fantastic. Story moves really well. Narrator delivers well. Chapter 26 on Chicago’s downfall was treacherous. Brutal book.

Iron Heel

I loved the book, a beautiful analysis of capitalism, so pertinent now a day. The only criticism, I have, it is not necessary on the book’s content but by the narrator. If London wrote the book from a female’s perspective. Why not have a woman narrating the book, instead of a man imitating the voice of a woman?

Shaking my head

Extremely disappointed both in the storyline and the silly voicing. My son literally laughed at this dude doing the female parts.