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| Author | Castello Holford |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history Speculative fiction Utopian fiction |
| Publisher | Arena Publishing Co. |
Publication date | 1895 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 234 pp. |
| Text | Aristopia atWikisource |
Aristopia: A Romance-History of the New World is an1895utopian novel byCastello Holford, considered the first novel-lengthalternate history inEnglish (and among the earliest alternate histories in general).[1]
Though part of the major wave utopian and dystopian literature that distinguished the final decades of the nineteenth century,[2][3] Holford's book reverses the normal stance of utopian projection: instead of imagining a better society at a future time or in a far-off place, he supposes that the founding of the United States occurred under different conditions and follows its development forward to a superior society in his own day.
The English playwrightHenry Arthur Jones was taken with the idea of Aristopia, and used it in his own polemical writings, as in his "The Tax-Wise Men of Aristopia"[4] and hisMy Dear Wells.[5]
Holford was not the first writer in English to employ the term "Aristopia." The eighteenth-centuryfreethinkerJohn Fransham (1730–1810) left a posthumous manuscript titledMemorablilia Classica, which contains a piece called "The Code of Aristopia, or Scheme for a Perfect Government."[6]
Ralph Morton, an early settler inVirginia, discovers a reef made of solidgold. He cannily uses his wealth to build a planned society called Aristopia (Greek for "the best place"), based on theUtopia of SirThomas More, with innovations and adaptations of his own. In Aristopia,all the land is owned by the government, and only leased to businesses and private citizens. Large-scale trade is alsomonopolized by the state, andinherited wealth is limited. Morton welcomes productive refugees from European conflicts —Huguenots,Irish fugitives fromCromwell's wars, and northern Italian and Swiss artisans.
The colony prospers, buys more land from theIndians, and spreads westward. Morton dies at the age of 100; his descendants and successors carry his policies forward.
The Aristopians support theAmerican Revolution, and on their own initiative conquerCanada. Aristopia comes to dominate the new nation, eventually ruling all ofNorth America north ofMexico.[7]
Media related toAristopia at Wikimedia Commons
The full text ofAristopia at Wikisource
Aristopia: A Romance-History of the New World public domain audiobook atLibriVox