Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook2 hours
Aristopia: A Romance-History of the New World
Written by Castello Newton Holford
Narrated by LibriVox Community
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
Aristopia (published 1895) is truly an alternative history. It is an imagination of how the continent of North America might have developed if one man with the vision, altruism and determination to build a state for the benefit of all its people had been in the happy position of having wealth enough to make his dream a reality.
It is an interesting book which deserves its place in literary history largely for being the first novel-length example of its genre. It is written, not as a novel, but as unvarnished history. Only a few passages seem really to catch alight with the idealistic passion of the country's founder, Ralph Morton. Those that do, however, are powerful.
Borrowing heavily from actual documents of the period such as Captain John Smith's Journal, and also from More's Utopia, Newton appears to use his book to show how the vast natural resources of the new continent could, with the vision and wealth of a man like Morton, have improved the lives of huge numbers of the poor, disenfranchised and disaffected of Europe, instead of making relatively few men very rich indeed. In keeping with the thinking of his own time, he seems not to have considered to any great extent how this would still have displaced the native inhabitants of Morton's new 'Commonwealth'. (Summary by Ruth Golding)
Related to Aristopia
Related audiobooks
Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African American Explorer of the American South Pontius Pilate: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Story of George Orwell's Masterpiece Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweet Land of Liberty: Old Times in the Colonies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History Revealed: The Quest for King Arthur: Episode 33 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God's Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The English and Their History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American History: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conquistadors and Aztecs: A History of the Fall of Tenochtitlan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rome: An Empire's Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Montezuma Met Cortes: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pax Britannica Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Things About Us: What We Really Need to Know About Britain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Earth Abides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Fantasy For You
Iron Flame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fourth Wing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Silver Flames Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hobbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Darker Shade of Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverwhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Live in Concert Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust: The Gift Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related podcast episodes
30 | What is Utopia? Part I. Thomas More: Critical Realism in a Time of Enclosure 0% found this document usefulPeter C. Mancall, "The Trials of Thomas Morton" (Yale UP, 2019): An interview with Peter C. Mancall 0% found this document usefulEvent: Protecting the Mediterranean: Date of Recording: 25/04/2019 Description: Spea… 0% found this document usefulLevel 4-Day 10 Newspapers 0% found this document useful#150 Consolidation! Five Boroughs, One Big City 0% found this document useful565 The Roman Empire's Golden Age (with Tom Holland) | My Last Book with Honor Cargill-Martin 0% found this document usefulPaper Money: Currency derives value from trust in the government which issues it 0% found this document useful
Related articles
A Noble Ruin All About HistoryArticle
A Noble Ruin
Dec 28, 2023
1 min readOceans Between Us BBC History MagazineArticle
Oceans Between Us
Oct 29, 2020
2 min readTiger Feat Guardian WeeklyArticle
Tiger Feat
Jan 26, 2024
3 min readEllie Cawthorne On Books Coming Up In 2020 BBC History MagazineArticle
Ellie Cawthorne On Books Coming Up In 2020
Jul 9, 2020
It’s certainly been a strange summer for the world of publishing. But if there’s one small silver lining on our current situation, it’s that some of us have more time for reading than ever before. And as we move towards autumn, there’s plenty for boo
1 min read2023 Books Of The Year BBC History MagazineArticle
2023 Books Of The Year
Nov 23, 2023
12 min readHistory The OldieArticle
History
Jun 29, 2022
11 min read2021 Book Of The Year BBC History MagazineArticle
2021 Book Of The Year
Nov 25, 2021
11 min readCulture Shock The American ScholarArticle
Culture Shock
Mar 1, 2023
In his essay “Of Cannibals” (c. 1580), Montaigne talks of meeting, in Rouen in 1562, three indigenous men from Tupinambá, Brazil. They had been brought to entertain King Charles IX, who at the time was just 12 years old. Traveling through Europe, the
5 min readBest Thing The Roman Empire Ever Did For Us? Collapse, One Author Says NPRArticle
Best Thing The Roman Empire Ever Did For Us? Collapse, One Author Says
Oct 16, 2019
2 min readA Global Warning Popular Mechanics South AfricaArticle
A Global Warning
Jun 24, 2019
1 min readReviews All About HistoryArticle
Reviews
Oct 8, 2020
6 min readTV, FILM & RADIO History RevealedArticle
TV, FILM & RADIO
Aug 6, 2020
5 min readIn The Company Of Risk Takers Country LifeArticle
In The Company Of Risk Takers
Jan 18, 2023
5 min readThe Hunt For Atlantis All About HistoryArticle
The Hunt For Atlantis
Jun 16, 2022
8 min readReviews All About HistoryArticle
Reviews
Feb 24, 2022
6 min readBOOKS & PODCASTS History RevealedArticle
BOOKS & PODCASTS
Jan 21, 2021
2 min readAlso On The Bookshelf BBC History MagazineArticle
Also On The Bookshelf
Dec 28, 2021
The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris (Harvill Secker, 384 pages, £14.99) In November 1856, George Little, a railway cashier in Dublin, was discovered dead under his desk, his head nearly cleaved from his body, in a blood-spattered room seemingl
2 min read‘The Boundless Sea’ Explores Centuries Of Ocean Voyaging The Christian Science MonitorArticle
‘The Boundless Sea’ Explores Centuries Of Ocean Voyaging
Nov 12, 2019
David Abulafia’s sweeping history “The Boundless Sea” touches on great explorers as well as war, trade, and migration.
2 min readGreat Beasts And American Exceptionalism: The World Through The Eyes Of A Mammoth The GuardianArticle
Great Beasts And American Exceptionalism: The World Through The Eyes Of A Mammoth
May 15, 2020
5 min readA Biography Of Napoleon III History of WarArticle
A Biography Of Napoleon III
Jun 14, 2018
“WITHOUT THIS GERMANY COULD NEVER HAVE DECLARED WAR AND INVADED FRANCE IN 1914.” Countless books and articles have explored the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, but few authors and researchers have examined his nephew’s legacy. Napoléon le Petit has been
2 min readThe Rules Of History Country LifeArticle
The Rules Of History
Mar 16, 2022
EDWARD GIBBON, whose account of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is one of the most celebrated of all historical works, reflected in an unpublished manuscript: ‘Every man of genius who writes history infuses into it, perhaps unconsciously, th
5 min readWhat If… The Scramble For Africa Had Never Happened? History RevealedArticle
What If… The Scramble For Africa Had Never Happened?
Sep 28, 2023
3 min readWhen Young Men Headed East The Critic MagazineArticle
When Young Men Headed East
May 25, 2023
5 min readReviews Who Do You Think You Are?Article
Reviews
Nov 14, 2023
3 min readLetters BBC History MagazineArticle
Letters
Mar 16, 2023
Sam Willis's entertaining article about Charles Johnson's scandalous works popularising robbers, pirates and highwaymen (Murder and Mayhem in Georgian Britain, March) reignites a long controversy about the true identity of the author. Although the so
4 min readFrancis Spufford Vividly Recreates an 18th-Century New York in ‘Golden Hill’ The MillionsArticle
Francis Spufford Vividly Recreates an 18th-Century New York in ‘Golden Hill’
Jul 26, 2018
Dear Reader, envision that Village which grew upon the southern strand of that isle of Manhattoes: a Lenape settlement purchased for 60 guilders and named for Amsterdam, later to be acquired by gunships of King James, and her wooden-legged governor r
7 min readNew Takes MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military HistoryArticle
New Takes
May 8, 2018
5 min readSeeking the ‘Lost Legion’ Military HistoryArticle
Seeking the ‘Lost Legion’
Jun 8, 2021
3 min readIn Living Memory New Zealand ListenerArticle
In Living Memory
Jan 17, 2021
2 min readArchitecture Brought Alive Country LifeArticle
Architecture Brought Alive
Mar 6, 2024
5 min read
Reviews for Aristopia
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews