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News From Nowhere

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News From Nowhere

By: William Morris
Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
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News from Nowhere (1890) is the best-known prose work of William Morris. The novel describes the encounter between a visitor from the 19th century, William Guest, and a decentralized and humane socialist future. Set over a century after a revolutionary upheaval in 1952, these 'Chapters from a Utopian Romance' recount his journey across London and up the Thames to Kelmscott Manor, Morris's own country house in Oxfordshire.

Drawing on the work of John Ruskin and Karl Marx, Morris's audiobook is not only an evocative statement of his egalitarian convictions but also a distinctive contribution to the utopian tradition. Morris's rejection of state socialism and his ambition to transform the relationship between humankind and the natural world, give News from Nowhere a particular resonance for modern readers.

©2013 William Morris (P)2013 Audible Ltd Classics Socialism Utopian
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Editor reviews

Author Morris was a socialist, a pattern-maker, an environmentalist, and a writer. Here Morris imagines an England reformed through civic rebellion against social injustice. A young man goes to sleep and wakes up in the far future, in an England that has become a communist, rural utopia. British narrator Barnaby Edwards employs a droll and tony voice when reciting this mannered and far-fetched text. The novella is written in first person, and the protagonist is young. The story registers like an essay, and the protagonist sounds far older than his years. This book is mainly an imaginative vehicle for Morris to decry societal wrongs and propose an idealistic alternative. Matching Morris’ intent Edwards performs as if he is lecturing.
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A wonderful concept, but Morris is a better designer than writer, which is possibly why the reading is a little stilted as well.

Interesting to find out a little more of Morris’ writing and thoughts

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Read this for the first time at university. Good narrative & well read. Political philosophy about what a decent society would look like.

Very good

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A fantastic work drawing in detail a beautiful vision of a future not so fanciful that you couldnt believe it possible. It can feel like an essay wrapped in a novel at times but it is staggering how contemporary Morris's scathing critique of continual growth capitalism and how compassionate his vision of a better future can feel.

Morris was truly a visionary

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The only drawback to this wonderful story was the rather unnecessarily plumby Victorian diction of the "guest" paired with the equally earthy accent of the rural people.
Other than this, a wonderful listen, and a beautiful picture painted of an idyllic English utopia and summertime.
Recommended!

Morris’s beautiful Utopia brought to life

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Needed to find some optimism in the world. And William Morris have it to me 😁
Apart from his obsession with women's good looks, I really enjoyed his vision for humanity's future.
Let is all dream. And act to make those dreams a reality

Be happy

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