A Modern Utopia
A Modern Utopia is a novel written by H. G. Wells and originally published in 1905.
Wells presents a planet just like Earth but located in another corner of the galaxy and there he develops his utopia. Even the population is genetically identical to that of Earth and on it Wells addresses issues such as his conception of an ideal society.
It is a rather peculiar work and Wells himself makes it clear: it is not a science fiction novel, but neither is it an essay. It is a work halfway between the two genres in which Wells explores the idea of a single world state.
A Modern Utopia is strongly influenced by the era of changes that Wells lived through, in which the mechanization of labor increased, the theory of natural selection was accepted and the economic model of populations began to combine capitalism with state socialism, which for Wells was the modern vision of an ideal society.
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Public domain (US)·No sign-up·DRM-free·Real text, not scans
Copyright note. A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells is believed to be in the public domain in the United States only. It may still be copyrighted in other countries. If you are not in the United States, please check your local laws to ensure this eBook is in the public domain in your country before downloading A Modern Utopia in PDF or EPUB.
- Pages
- 263
- Reading time
- 7 hours 52 minutes
- Pace
- Intermediate
- First published
- 1905
- Language
- English
- Downloads
- 3,615
121 years later, still timely
Why Read A Modern Utopia in 2026?
Two travelers step into a redesigned world. Wells treats policy like speculative fiction, sketching mobility, governance, and education for a planet-wide society. The thought experiment is generous: critique invited, revisions welcome.
Today's connection
Read as a seedbed for later world-building and civic design. Agree or argue—either way, it sharpens your sense of what “better” could mean.
Planetary thinking
Systems at human scale.
Policy as prototype
Try, test, iterate.
Blueprint for futures
Ideas that other books borrow.
These collections include A Modern Utopia
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About the author
H. G. Wells
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From A Modern Utopia
Every economic dissertation and discussion reminds one more strongly than the last of the game of croquet Alice played in Wonderland.
Perfection is the mere repudiation of that ineluctable marginal inexactitude which is the mysterious inmost quality of being.
It is good to stop by the track for a space, put aside the knapsack, wipe the brows, and talk a little of the upper slopes of the mountain we think we are climbing, would but the trees let us see it.
Modern war, modern international hostility is, I believe, possible only through the stupid illiteracy of the mass of men and the conceit and intellectual indolence of rulers and those who feed the public mind.
I feel to think, he thinks to feel. It is I and my kind that have the wider range, because we can be impersonal as well as personal. We can escape ourselves.