The Mere Future

From the nation that elected Barack Obama in the flames of economic disaster comes the first novel of the New Era, The Mere Future, by award-winning novelist, activist, and playwright Sarah Schulman. In this dystopian vision, New York City has morphed into an idealized version of itself, the result of what the newly elected mayor calls The Big Change. Rent is cheap, homelessness is over, and everyone works in Marketing. Despite the utopian surface, however, there is a disturbing malaise that infects the population. Our heroine, a lowly copywriter, and her girlfriend Nadine just want to fall in love all over again, but can't help noticing that the social packaging may not be recyclable.

Anthony Crosland, a member of Harold Wilson's cabinet and the author of The Future of Socialism, was immensely influential in seeking to modernise the ideology of the Labour Party, to put opportunity and empowerment, the fairness of life chances and the sharing of social experiences at its centre in place of nationalisation. The party's belated redefinition guarantees a prominent role in its intellectual history to the revisionists' champion. Though Crosland wrote when economic growth could be taken for granted as the basis for social reform, his emphasis on fairness and community, on education and opportunity, continues to illuminate political debate in harder times.