This early science fiction novel (first published in 1890) offers a view of 1988, when New York City is a dazzling metropolis filled with technological wonders. But the wealth and opulent splendor masks a seething underworld where the laboring masses face oppression from the rich. When the workers stage a violent revolt with the aid of foreign terrorists, the city collapses. "Caesar's Column" was the first English-language dystopian novel.