The Tenth Planet. A Novel

1973 Cooper, Edmund (1926-82). The Tenth Planet. A Novel. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973. U.S. ed. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Rpt. New York: Berkley Medallion, 1974. HRC, PSt

Flawed utopia. The novel begins with Earth near death from pollution and war. Mars is to be the next center of human civilization, but it experiences the same problems as Earth. Far in the future the remnant of humanity exists in a society of 10,000 underground on the tenth planet where it is under a static, religious, but benevolent dictatorship that provides a good life for its inhabitants but severely restricts change. A man from the time of the dying Earth is cloned and becomes the focus of conflict and encourages conflict. At the end, he and some others leave to see if Earth can be revived.