Skip to content
Opens in a new window
News From Nowhere

Public domain audiobook

News From Nowhere

by William Morris

English· 7:24:24· 31 chapters
News from Nowhere (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. In the book, the narrator, William Guest, falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the Socialist League and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production. In this society there is no private property, no big cities, no authority, no monetary system, no divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems. This agrarian society functions simply because the people find pleasure in nature, and therefore they find pleasure in their work. In the novel, Morris tackles one of the most common criticisms of socialism; the supposed lack of incentive to work in a communistic society. Morris' response is that all work should be creative and pleasurable. (Summary by Wikipedia)

LibriVox recordings are public domain in the United States; copyright status may differ elsewhere.

Chapters

  1. Chapter 1

    Chapter 1, Discussion and Bed

    06:14
  2. Chapter 2

    Chapter 2, A Morning Bath

    16:53
  3. Chapter 3

    Chapter 3, The Guest House and Breakfast Therein

    19:20
  4. Chapter 4

    Chapter 4, A Market By the Way

    06:37
  5. Chapter 5

    Chapter 5, Children on the Road

    14:04
  6. Chapter 6

    Chapter 6, A Little Shopping

    14:55
  7. Chapter 7

    Chapter 7, Trafalgar Square

    15:21
  8. Chapter 8

    Chapter 8, An Old Friend

    07:32
  9. Chapter 9

    Chapter 9, Concerning Love

    24:03
  10. Chapter 10

    Chapter 10, Questions and Answers

    24:02
  11. Chapter 11

    Chapter 11, Concerning Government

    08:40
  12. Chapter 12

    Chapter 12, Concerning the Arrangement of Life

    11:23
  13. Chapter 13

    Chapter 13, Concerning Politics and Chapter 14, How Matters Are Arranged

    12:00
  14. Chapter 14

    Chapter 15, On the Lack of Incentive to Labour in a Communist Society

    18:03
  15. Chapter 15

    Chapter 16, Dinner in the Hall of Bloomsbury Market

    08:36
  16. Chapter 16

    Chapter 17, Part 1, How the Change Came

    31:11
  17. Chapter 17

    Chapter 17, Part 2, How the Change Came

    27:38
  18. Chapter 18

    Chapter 18, The Beginning of the New Life

    11:08
  19. Chapter 19

    Chapter 19, The Drive Back to Hammersmith

    11:00
  20. Chapter 20

    Chapter 20, The Hammersmith Guest House Again, and Chapter 21, Going Up the River

    09:13
  21. Chapter 21

    Chapter 22, Hampton Court and a Praiser of Past Times

    20:46
  22. Chapter 22

    Chapter 23, An Early Morning By Runnymede

    11:57
  23. Chapter 23

    Chapter 24, Up the Thames: The Second Day

    18:31
  24. Chapter 24

    Chapter 25, The Third Day on the Thames

    08:59
  25. Chapter 25

    Chapter 26, The Obstinate Refusers

    09:08
  26. Chapter 26

    Chapter 27, The Upper Waters

    22:33
  27. Chapter 27

    Chapter 28, The Little River

    08:22
  28. Chapter 28

    Chapter 29, A Resting-Place on the Upper Thames

    10:06
  29. Chapter 29

    Chapter 30, The Journey's End

    12:04
  30. Chapter 30

    Chapter 31, An Old House Amongst New Folk

    10:50
  31. Chapter 31

    Chapter 32, The Feast's Beginning - The End

    13:15