Brave New World

Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring masterwork must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit

"A masterpiece. . . . One of the most prophetic dystopian works." —Wall Street Journal 

The beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition of Brave New World also includes Huxley's essay, "Brave New World Revisited" and features a foreword by Christopher Hitchens

Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order—all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. 

Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as a thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites. 

The astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's legendary vision of a world of tomorrow utterly transformed. In Huxley's darkly satiric yet chillingly prescient imagining of a "utopian" future, humans are genetically designed and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded and as a thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment.

This deluxe edition also includes the nonfiction work "Brave New World Revisited," "a thought-jabbing, terrifying book" (Chicago Tribune), first published in 1958. It is a fascinating essay in which Huxley compares the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy envisioned in Brave New World. He scrutinizes threats to humanity such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them.

With a Foreword by Christopher Hitchens

“Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English.” - Chicago Tribune

“One of the 20th century’s greatest writers.” - Washington Post

“A genius . . . a writer who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine.” - The New Yorker

“Huxley uses his erudite knowledge of human relations to compare our actual world with his prophetic fantasy of 1931. It is a frightening experience, indeed, to discover how much of his satirical prediction of a distant future became reality in so short a time.” - New York Times Book Review

“Chilling. . . . That he gave us the dark side of genetic engineering in 1932 is amazing.” - Providence Journal-Bulletin

“A sometimes appallingly accurate view of today’s world.” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“It’s time for everyone to read or reread Brave New World.” - Raleigh News & Observer

“[A] masterpiece. ... One of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century.” - Wall Street Journal