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Overview
When two European scientists unexpectedly inherit an Indian rajah's fortune, each builds an experimental city of his dreams in the wilds of the American Northwest. France-Ville is a harmonious urban community devoted to health and hygiene, the specialty of its French founder, Dr. Francois Sarrasin. Stahlstadt, or City of Steel, is a fortress-like factory town devoted to the manufacture of high-tech weapons of war. Its German creator, the fanatically pro-Aryan Herr Schultze, is Verne's first truly evil scientist. In his quest for world domination and racial supremacy, Schultze decides to showcase his deadly wares by destroying France-Ville and all its inhabitants. Both prescient and cautionary, The Begum's Millions is a masterpiece of scientific and political speculation and constitutes one of the earliest technological utopia/dystopias in Western literature. This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices, and a critical introduction as well as all the illustrations from the original French edition.Synopsis
Verne's first cautionary tale about the dangers of science — first modern and corrected English translation.
The Washington Post - Michael Dirda
To read Jules Verne is one of the great treats of childhood. To read Jules Verne later in life is to discover a writer just as satisfying but even richer, one who is not only a natural storyteller but also a mythmaker, a social critic and an innovative artist. In France, Verne is now studied as a major literary figure, and thanks to fresh translations -- from Penguin and university presses at Indiana and Nebraska, as well as Wesleyan -- more and more of his work is available to American readers in reliable texts. Give The Begum's Millions or one of the other novels a try this winter. There's a lot more to Jules Verne than what you find in those old, albeit quite wonderful, Disney movies.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"To read Jules Verne is one of the great treats of childhood. To read Jules Verne later in life is to discover a writer just as satisfying but even richer, one who is not only a natural storyteller but also a mythmaker, a social critic and an innovative artist. ...Give The Begum's Millions or one of (his) other novels a try.... There's a lot more to Jules Verne than what you find in those old, albeit quite wonderful, Disney movies." --Washington Post Book WorldMichael Dirda
To read Jules Verne is one of the great treats of childhood. To read Jules Verne later in life is to discover a writer just as satisfying but even richer, one who is not only a natural storyteller but also a mythmaker, a social critic and an innovative artist. In France, Verne is now studied as a major literary figure, and thanks to fresh translations -- from Penguin and university presses at Indiana and Nebraska, as well as Wesleyan -- more and more of his work is available to American readers in reliable texts. Give The Begum's Millions or one of the other novels a try this winter. There's a lot more to Jules Verne than what you find in those old, albeit quite wonderful, Disney movies.— The Washington Post