A dystopian novel devoted to the near future of the planet Earth. “The Iron Heel” is a rather unusual and captivating dystopian novel about the near future (as of the time of publication, 1908) of the United States and the Earth as a whole. Unlike almost any other master of dystopian (and even utopian) genres, London failed to predict the future with complete accuracy. However, many things he wrote about did come true—giant corporations swallowing small and middle-sized businesses, the very idea of “corporate culture,” world wars with Germany, and even… 1917 as the date of a powerful social explosion.