The more we elevate and seek out privacy, the more it seems to diminish.

Such is the paradox we have inherited.

It is no coincidence that the word privacy was popularized in the 1890s as the West began its flirtation with centralization and top-down planning. The progressive pursuit of heaven on earth—of Utopia—arose from a desire to help the individual. But the individual would have to expose himself, to give up everything, in order to receive it.

Following the career of utopian philosopher H. G. Wells, this intellectual history traces the story of the first people who realized they could change the world. From the rise of the welfare state and the birth of eugenics, to the development of pharmaceuticals and refinement of psychological manipulation, the story of the early twentieth century is best told alongside the genre it alone could produce: dystopia.

Overview of Book:

PRIVACY AND DECENTRALIZATION
Chapter 1: Privacy
Chapter 2: Decentralization
Chapter 3: From Unknown To Ordered
Chapter 4: H. G. Wells Prophet of Centralism
Chapter 5: Joseph Conrad Decentered

PRIVACY, UTOPIA, AND THE WELFARE STATE
Chapter 6: The Welfare State
Chapter 7: A Modern Utopia and the Birth of Dystopia
Chapter 8: No Utopia on Earth A Conradian Response
Chapter 9: Enter Dystopia

BODY, MIND, PRIVACY
Chapter 10: The Body Politic
Chapter 11: Three Dystopias
Chapter 12: Losing Control
Conclusion