Popular North American Dystopia Books
Find dystopia books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (26)
1.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future... Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the source of all discord and unhappiness, the printed book.
2.
Faith Among Shadows by Malcolm Leal EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
Lying face down on the muddy jungle floor, with the taste of his own blood in his mouth, all Malcolm Leal could do was call upon the God of his great-grandmother. Florencia Martinez Hernandez raised Malcolm as her own son in a small fishing village on the northern coast of Cuba. Teaching Malcolm wisdom gleaned from the worn pages of her century-old Bible, Florencia spoke of a temple "promised to all people" and that there were men on earth who "walked with God." Most importantly, she taught him to rely on "her" God for everything. While on assignment for the Cuban Special Forces in the dense r... continue
3.
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
Can we ever be wholly free? In this book of breathtaking imaginary leaps that conjure dystopias and magical islands, Margaret Atwood holds a mirror up to our own world. The reflection we are faced with, of men and women in prisons literal and metaphorical, is frightening, but it is also a call to arms to speak and to act to preserve our freedom while we still can. And in that, there is hope. Selected from The Handmaid's Tale and Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. VINTAGE MINIS- GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world's greatest writers on the experiences that make ... continue
4.
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.
5.
How High We Go in the Dark : A Novel by Sequoia Nagamatsu EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague--a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice. Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly pre... continue
6.
La mucama de Omicunlé by Rita Indiana Hernández ES
Country: North America / 
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Description:
This overwhelming novel, which enshrines Rita Indiana as narrator, contains many layers and fascinating twists. The story begins in the apartment of saint and advisor to the Dominican President, Esther Escudero, better known as Omicunlé. His young maid, Alcide Figueroa, whom Esther helped leave a life of prostitution, is about to become plagued by the past, present and future. Including deities that inhabit the Caribbean Sea, political interests, Goya's prints, gender reassignment and numerous plot twists, few other works of fiction speak of contemporary art as precisely as La mucama de omicun... continue
7.
Moon of the Crusted Snow : A Novel by Waubgeshig Rice EN
Country: North America / Canada
Canada
Description:
With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the council and community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader, they endeavour to restore order while grappling with... continue
8.
My Monticello : Fiction by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America. Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlotte... continue
9.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale" (John Green, New York Times)--now with a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin. When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarc... continue
10.
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Parable of the Talents celebrates the usual Butlerian themes of alienation and transcendence, violence and spirituality, slavery and freedom, and separation and community, to astonishing effect in the shockingly familiar, broken world of 2032.