Nordenholt's Million

Nordenholt's Million Synopsis

In this novel originally published in 1923, as denitrifying bacteria inimical to plant growth spreads around the world, toppling civilisations and threatening to wipe out humankind, the British plutocrat Nordenholt sets himself up as the benignant dictator of a ruthlessly efficient, entirely undemocratic, survivalist colony established in Scotland's Clyde Valley. Discovering just how far their employer is willing to go in his effort to spare one million lives, Jack Flint, the colony's director of operations, and Elsa Huntingtower, Nordenholt's personal assistant, are forced to grapple with the question of whether a noble end justifies dastardly means.

Series Overview: Under the direction of Joshua Glenn, the MIT Press's Radium Age is reissuing notable proto-science fiction stories from the underappreciated era between 1900 and 1935. In these forgotten classics, science fiction readers will discover the origins of enduring tropes like robots (berserk or benevolent), tyrannical supermen, dystopian wastelands, sinister telepaths, and eco-catastrophes. With new contributions by historians, science journalists, and science fiction authors, the Radium Age book series will recontextualise the breakthroughs and biases of these proto-science fiction classics, and chart the emergence of a burgeoning genre.