Caesar’s Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century (1890)

This week’s selection is a dystopian novel from an unlikely source.  Ignatius Donnelly is best remembered for his crackpot book on the fabled island of Atlantis (which became a 19^th century bestseller and earned him a small fortune) and his theories on the authorship of Shakespeare, but this work, Caesar’s Column was his magnum opus.  Based in the late 20^th century, it envisions a United States ruled by oligarchs, airship travel and surprisingly, horse drawn carriages flitting around the streets of New York City…I guess no one expected automobiles would “catch on”.  This book was a hit…and eventually sold 250,000 copies, again, firmly planting Donnelly as a classic American author, despite his Atlantean addiction.  Look for the Jewish nation in Uganda…I had never heard of such a thing, but apparently a Jewish State was considered for this locale in East Africa…it didn’t happen, but Donnelly thought it might…in his future…  

    

First Edition copy of Caesar’s Column