...six books, or ten

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William Morris

News from nowhere or an epoch of rest, being some chapters from a utopian romance

'The man himself was tall, dark-haired, and exceedingly handsome, and though his face was no less kindly in expression than that of the others, he moved with that somewhat haughty mien which great beauty is apt to give to both men and women. He nevertheless came and sat down at our table with a smiling face, stretching out his long legs and hanging his arm over the chair in the slowly graceful way which tall and well-built people may use without affectation. He was a man in the prime of life, but looked as happy as a child who has just got a new toy. He bowed gracefully to me and said: 'I see clearly that you are the guest, of whom Annie has just told me, who has come from some distant country that does not know of us, or our ways of life. So I daresay you would not mind answering me a few questions...'
(p.17.02)

Of the many utopias and distopias, from 'The Republic' of Plato to George Orwell's '1984' and after, there are few that do not presume an authoritarian government, forcing people to be good, or at least to conform. William Morris's utopia is an exception in which people govern themselves. An encouragement to trust ourselves and others as we are, given freedom from hierarchy, bureaucracy and such.

John Cage

C Thomas Mitchell

George Sturt

Gertrude Stein
Hannah Arendt