List of dystopian literature

This is a list of notable works of dystopian literature. A dystopia is an unpleasant (typically repressive) society, often propagandized as being utopian. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that dystopian works depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction."

18th century

 * Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift

19th century

 * The Last Man (1826) by Mary Shelley
 * A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, in the Year of Our Lord, 19-- (1835) by Oliver Bolokitten
 * The Tragedy of Man (1862) by Imre Madách
 * Paris in the Twentieth Century (1863) by Jules Verne
 * Notes from Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
 * The History of a Town (1870) by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
 * Vril, the Power of the Coming Race (1871) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally printed as The Coming Race
 * Erewhon (1872) by Samuel Butler
 * The Begum's Fortune (1879) by Jules Verne
 * The Fixed Period (1882) by Anthony Trollope
 * The Republic of the Future (1887) by Anna Bowman Dodd
 * The Inner House (1888) by Walter Besant
 * Caesar's Column (1890) by Ignatius L. Donnelly
 * Pictures of the Socialistic Future (1891) by Eugen Richter
 * "The Repairer of Reputations" (1895) by Robert W. Chambers
 * The Time Machine (1895) by H. G. Wells
 * When The Sleeper Wakes (1899) by H. G. Wells

1900s

 * The First Men in the Moon (1901) by H. G. Wells
 * The Purple Cloud (1901) by M. P. Shiel
 * The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London
 * Lord of the World (1908) by Robert Hugh Benson
 * The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster
 * Trylogia Księżycowa or The Lunar Trilogy (1911) by Jerzy Żuławski

1910s

 * The Night Land (1912) by William Hope Hodgson
 * When William Came (1913) by Saki as a future history, this is among the earliest of Pax Germanica genre
 * Meccania, the Super-State (1918) by "Owen Gregory"(pseudonym)
 * The Heads of Cerberus (1919) by "Francis Stevens" (Gertrude Barrows Bennett)

1920s

 * R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots (1921) by Karel Čapek
 * We (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin
 * Miasto światłości (1924) by Mieczysław Smolarski
 * The Trial (1925) by Franz Kafka

1930s

 * The Foundation Pit (1930) by Andrei Platonov
 * Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley
 * Cat Country (1932/1933) by Lao She
 * It Can't Happen Here (1935) by Sinclair Lewis
 * War with the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek
 * Swastika Night (1937) by Katharine Burdekin
 * Anthem (1938) by Ayn Rand
 * Invitation to a Beheading (1938) by Vladimir Nabokov

1940s

 * Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler
 * "If This Goes On—" (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein
 * Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye
 * The Moon Is Down (1942) by John Steinbeck
 * Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
 * That Hideous Strength (1945) by C. S. Lewis
 * Peace In Our Time (1946) by Noël Coward
 * Bend Sinister (1947) by Vladimir Nabokov
 * Ape and Essence (1948) by Aldous Huxley
 * Some Time Never: A Fable for Supermen (1948) by Roald Dahl
 * The World of Null-A (1948) by A. E. van Vogt
 * Heliopolis (1949) by Ernst Jünger
 * Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell

1950s

 * Player Piano (1952) by Kurt Vonnegut
 * The Sound of His Horn (1952) by Sarban
 * Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury
 * Love Among the Ruins (1953) by Evelyn Waugh
 * One (1953) by David Karp
 * The Space Merchants (1953) by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
 * The Caves of Steel (1954) by Isaac Asimov
 * Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding
 * The Chrysalids (1955) by John Wyndham
 * The City and the Stars (1956) by Arthur C. Clarke
 * Minority Report (1956) by Philip K. Dick
 * The World Jones Made (1956) by Philip K. Dick
 * Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand
 * The Naked Sun (1957) by Isaac Asimov
 * The Rise of the Meritocracy (1958) by Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington
 * Alas, Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank
 * A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) by Walter M. Miller Jr.

1960s

 * Dr. Futurity (1960) by Philip K. Dick
 * Facial Justice (1960) by L. P. Hartley
 * Vulcan's Hammer (1960) by Philip K. Dick
 * "Harrison Bergeron" (1961) by Kurt Vonnegut
 * Powrót z gwiazd (1961) by Stanisław Lem
 * The Old Men at the Zoo (1961) by Angus Wilson
 * A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
 * The Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. Dick
 * The Wanting Seed (1962) by Anthony Burgess
 * The Game-Players of Titan (1963) by Philip K Dick
 * Planet of the Apes (1963) by Pierre Boulle
 * Farnham's Freehold (1964) by Robert A. Heinlein
 * Nova Express (1964) by William S. Burroughs
 * The Penultimate Truth (1964) by Philip K. Dick
 * The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964) by Philip K. Dick
 * "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965) by Harlan Ellison
 * The Crack in Space (1966) by Philip K. Dick
 * The Dream Master (1966) by Roger Zelazny
 * Make Room! Make Room! (1966) by Harry Harrison
 * Now Wait for Last Year (1966) by Philip K. Dick
 * Snail on the Slope (1966) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
 * "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison (1967) (post-apocalyptic with elements of dystopia)
 * Logan's Run (1967) by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
 * The Time Hoppers (1967) by Robert Silverberg
 * The White Mountains (1967) by John Christopher
 * Why Call Them Back from Heaven? (1967) by Clifford D. Simak
 * A Very Private Life (1968) by Michael Frayn
 * Camp Concentration (1968) by Thomas M. Disch
 * The City of Gold and Lead (1968) by John Christopher
 * Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick
 * The Pool of Fire (1968) by John Christopher
 * Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner
 * Synthajoy (1968) by D. G. Compton
 * The Jagged Orbit (1969) by John Brunner

1970s

 * Our Friends from Frolix 8 (1970) by Philip K. Dick
 * This Perfect Day (1970) by Ira Levin
 * The Guardians (1970) by John Christopher
 * The Lorax (1971) by Dr. Seuss
 * The Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin
 * Los Angeles: AD 2017 (1971) by Phillip Wylie
 * The World Inside (1971) by Robert Silverberg
 * 334 (1972) by Thomas M. Disch
 * The Sheep Look Up (1972) by John Brunner
 * The Iron Dream (1972) by Norman Spinrad
 * The Camp of the Saints (Le Camp des Saints) (1973) by Jean Raspail
 * The Ultimate Solution by Eric Norden (1973)
 * Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974) by Philip K. Dick
 * Walk to the End of the World (1974) by Suzy McKee Charnas
 * Dhalgren (1975) by Samuel R. Delany
 * The Forever War (1975) by Joe Haldeman
 * The Girl Who Owned a City (1975) by O. T. Nelson
 * High-Rise (1975) by J. G. Ballard
 * The Shockwave Rider (1975) by John Brunner
 * Don't Bite the Sun (1976) by Tanith Lee
 * Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy
 * The Dark Tower (1977) – unfinished, attributed to C. S. Lewis, published as The Dark Tower and Other Stories
 * A Scanner Darkly (1977) by Philip K. Dick
 * The Eye of the Heron (1978) by Ursula K. Le Guin
 * SS-GB by Len Deighton (1978)
 * The Stand (1978) by Stephen King
 * 1985 (1978) by Anthony Burgess
 * The Turner Diaries (1978) by Andrew Macdonald
 * Alongside Night (1979) by J. Neil Schulman
 * The Long Walk (1979) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman

1980s

 * Mockingbird (1980) by Walter Tevis
 * Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban
 * Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981) by Alasdair Gray
 * Limes inferior (1982) by Janusz Zajdel
 * The Running Man (1982) by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman
 * HaDerekh LeEin Harod (1984) by Amos Kenan. 1984 saw the appearance of the first Israeli dystopian novel, and this one appeared shortly after. Like other Israeli dystopian novels, it is concerned with the religious right taking control of the Jewish state.
 * Paradyzja (1984) by Janusz Zajdel
 * Sprawl trilogy: Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson
 * Count Zero (1986) by William Gibson
 * Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson
 * Dayworld (1985) by Philip José Farmer
 * The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
 * In the Country of Last Things (1985) by Paul Auster
 * Moscow 2042 (1986) by Vladimir Voinovich
 * Sea of Glass (1986) by Barry B. Longyear
 * Obernewtyn Chronicles (1987–2008) by Isobelle Carmody
 * The Domination (1988) by S. M. Stirling
 * When the Tripods Came (1988) by John Christopher
 * The Proteus Operation (1985) by James P. Hogan
 * The Divide (1980) by William Overgard
 * To the Stars trilogy (1980) by Harry Harrison

Fiction

 * Clash of Eagles (1990) by Leo Rutman
 * The Dark Beyond the Stars (1991) by Frank M. Robinson
 * Timewyrm: Exodus (Doctor Who novel) (1991) by Terrance Dicks
 * The War in 2020 (1991) by Ralph Peters (Pocket Books, 1991)
 * The Children of Men (1992) by P. D. James (Faber and Faber, 1992)
 * Fatherland by Robert Harris (Hutchinson, 1992)
 * Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Spectra, 1992)
 * Parable of the Sower (1993) by Octavia E. Butler (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993)
 * Virtual Light (1993) by William Gibson (Bantam Spectra, 1993)
 * Vurt (1993) by Jeff Noon
 * The Memory Police (1994) by Yōko Ogawa
 * The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1994) by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Spectra, 1994)
 * Gun, with Occasional Music (1994) by Jonathan Lethem (Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994)
 * Amnesia Moon (1995) by Jonathan Lethem
 * '48 (1996) by James Herbert
 * Attentatet i Pålsjö skog (1996) by Hans Alfredson
 * Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown, 1996)
 * Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Takami (Ohta Publishing, 1999)
 * Forever Free (1999) by Joe Haldeman
 * The Ice People (1999) by Maggie Gee (Richard Cohen Books, 1999)

Young adult fiction

 * The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 1993)
 * Shade's Children (1997) by Garth Nix
 * Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1) (1998) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Fiction

 * Ella Minnow Pea (2001) by Mark Dunn (MacAdam/Cage, 2001)
 * Feed (2002) by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick Press, 2002)
 * In the Presence of Mine Enemies (2003) by Harry Turtledove (2003, the first 21 pages were originally a short story published in 1992)
 * Jennifer Government (2003) by Max Barry (Doubleday, 2003)
 * Oryx and Crake (2003) by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, 2003)
 * Collaborator (2003) by Murray Davies
 * Asphalt (2004) by Carl Hancock Rux (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
 * Cloud Atlas (2004) by David Mitchell (Sceptre, 2004)
 * The Plot Against America (2004) by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, 2004)
 * Divided Kingdom (2005) by Rupert Thomson (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)
 * Never Let Me Go (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber and Faber, 2005)
 * Armageddon's Children (2006) by Terry Brooks (Del Rey Books, 2006)
 * The Book of Dave (2006) by Will Self (Viking Press, 2006)
 * Day of the Oprichnik (2006) by Vladimir Sorokin (Zakharov Books, 2006)
 * The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
 * Blind Faith (2007) by Ben Elton (Bantam Press, 2007)
 * Rant (2007) by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday, 2007)
 * Last Light (2007) by Alex Scarrow (Orion Publishing Group, 2007)
 * Nontraditional Love (2008) by Rafael Grugman (Liberty Publishing House, 2008)
 * World Made by Hand (2008) by James Howard Kunstler (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008)
 * Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown, series by Jo Walton (2006–2008)
 * The City & the City (2009) by China Miéville (Del Rey Books, 2009)
 * Shades of Grey (2009) by Jasper Fforde (Viking Press, 2009)
 * The Windup Girl (2009) by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books, 2009)
 * The Year of the Flood (2009) by Margaret Atwood (McClelland & Stewart, 2009)
 * Z213: Exit (2009) by Dimitris Lyacos (Shoestring Press, 2009)

Young adult fiction

 * Gathering Blue (2000) by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 2000)
 * Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles #1) (2001) by Philip Reeve (Scholastic, 2001)
 * Noughts and Crosses (2001) by Malorie Blackman (Random House, 2001)
 * The House of the Scorpion (2002) by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum Books, 2002)
 * Among the Barons (Shadow Children #4) (2003) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
 * Among the Betrayed (Shadow Children #3) (2003) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
 * The City of Ember (2003) by Jeanne DuPrau (Random House, 2003)
 * Among the Brave (Shadow Children #5) (2004) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
 * Messenger (2004) by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 2004)
 * The People of Sparks (2004) by Jeanne DuPrau (Yearling, 2004)
 * Among the Enemy (Shadow Children #6) (2005) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2005)
 * Checkmate (2005) by Malorie Blackman (Random House, 2005)
 * Uglies (2005) by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2005)
 * Pretties (2005) by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, 2005)
 * Among the Free (Shadow Children #7) (2006) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
 * Genesis (2006) by Bernard Beckett (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006)
 * Life as We Knew It (2006) by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt Children's Books, 2006)
 * Specials (2006) by Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
 * Extras (2007) by Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
 * Incarceron (2007) by Catherine Fisher (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007)
 * Unwind (2007) by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
 * The Host (2008) by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown and Company, 2008)
 * The Dead and the Gone (2008) by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt Children's Books, 2008)
 * The Declaration (2008) by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008)
 * From the New World (2008) by Yusuke Kishi (Kodansha Novels, 2008)
 * Gone (2008) by Michael Grant (HarperCollins, 2008)
 * The Hunger Games (2008) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008)
 * The Diamond of Darkhold (2008) by Jeanne DuPrau (Yearling, 2008)
 * The Resistance (2008) by Gemma Malley (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008)
 * Sapphique (2007) by Catherine Fisher (Hodder & Stoughton, 2008)
 * Catching Fire (2009) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2009)
 * The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) by Carrie Ryan (Random House, 2009)
 * The Maze Runner (2009) by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2009)

Fiction

 * The Envy Chronicles (series) (2010) by Joss Ware (Avon, 2010–2015)
 * The Passage (2010) by Justin Cronin (Ballantine Books, 2010)
 * Super Sad True Love Story (2010) by Gary Shteyngart (Random House, 2010)
 * Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline (Random House, 2011)
 * Shimoneta (2012) by Hirotaka Akagi (Shogakukan, 2012)
 * Bleeding Edge (2013) by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press, 2013)
 * The Bone Season (2013) by Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury, 2013)
 * The Circle (2013) by Dave Eggers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013)
 * MaddAddam (2013) by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese, 2013)
 * The Office of Mercy (2013) by Ariel Djanikian (Viking Books, 2013)
 * Wool (2013) by Hugh Howey (Simon & Schuster, 2013)
 * Dominion (2014) by C. J. Sansom (Mulholland Books, 2014)
 * Submission (2015) by Michel Houellebecq (Groupe Flammarion, 2015)
 * The Heart Goes Last (2015) by Margaret Atwood (Penguin Random House, 2015)
 * Friday Black (2018) by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Mariner Books, 2018)
 * Tears of the Trufflepig (2019) by Fernando A. Flores (FSG Originals, 2019)
 * The Testaments (2019) by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese, 2019)

Young adult fiction

 * Matched (2010) by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2010)
 * Mockingjay 2010) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Corporation, 2010)
 * Monsters of Men (2010) by Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press, 2010)
 * The Scorch Trials (2010) by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2010)
 * Across The Universe (2011) by Beth Revis (Razorbill Books, 2011)
 * Crossed (2011) by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2011)
 * The Death Cure (2011) by James Dashner (Delacorte Press, 2011)
 * Delirium (2011) by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins, 2011)
 * Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)
 * Legend (2011) by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2011)
 * Shatter Me (2011) by Tahereh Mafi (HarperCollins, 2011)
 * The Unwanteds (2011) by Lisa McMann (Aladdin Paperbacks, 2011)
 * Wither (2011) by Lauren DeStefano (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2011)
 * Article 5 (2012) by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen, 2012)
 * Pandemonium (2012) by Lauren Oliver (HarperCollins, 2012)
 * Insurgent (2012) by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2012)
 * The Selection (2012) by Kiera Cass (HarperCollins, 2012)
 * Son (2012) by Lois Lowry (Houghton Mifflin, 2012)
 * Reached (2012) by Ally Condie (Dutton Children's Books, 2012)
 * Revealing Eden (2012) by Victoria Foyt (Sand Dollar Press, Inc., 2012)
 * Under the Never Sky (2012) by Veronica Rossi (HarperCollins, 2012)
 * Prodigy (2013) by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)
 * The Elite (2013) by Kiera Cass (HarperCollins, 2013)
 * The 5th Wave (2013) by Rick Yancey (Penguin Group, 2013)
 * Unravel Me (2013) by Tahereh Mafi (HarperCollins, 2013)
 * Allegiant (2013) by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2013)
 * Champion (2013) by Marie Lu (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)
 * Reboot (2013) by Amy Tintera (Harper Teen, 2013)
 * The Infinite Sea (2014) by Rick Yancey (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2014)
 * Red Rising (2014) by Pierce Brown (Random House LLC, 2014)
 * Golden Son (2015) by Pierce Brown (Random House LLC, 2015)
 * Red Queen (novel) (2015) by Victoria Aveyard (Harper Teen, 2015)
 * Morning Star (2016) by Pierce Brown (Random House LLC, 2016)
 * The Last Star (2016) by Rick Yancey (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2016)
 * Scythe (2016) by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster, 2016)
 * Iron Gold (2018) by Pierce Brown (Del Rey Books, 2018)

Fiction

 * Prophet Song (2023) by Paul Lynch (Oneworld Publications, 2023)

Young adult fiction

 * The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2020)
 * Ready Player Two (2020) by Ernest Cline (Ballantine Books, 2020)