The Sheep Look Up

1972 Brunner, John [Kilian Houston] (1934-95). The Sheep Look Up. New York: Harper & Row. Rpt. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2003, with a brief "Introduction" by David Brin (xiii-xiv) and an "Afterword" by James John Bell (369-88) on the books environmental message; and Lakewood, CO: Centipede Press, 2009. 300 copy ed. illus. Dan J. O’Driscoll and with an “Introduction” by Kim Stanley Robinson (7-11), “John Brunner A Short Autobiography” (409-35) by Brunner, “John Brunner Interviewed by Ian Covell” (437-55), and “Noise Level” (457-59) by Brunner reprinted from Science Fiction Review, no. 29 (January-February 1979): 15-16. PSt

A pollution dystopia that presents a world of the near future in which it is necessary to always wear a filter mask whenever one is outside, most food has been contaminated by chemicals used in fertilizers, etc., the water is unsafe for drinking without boiling, etc. Added to this is the leaking of poison gas buried in mountains in Colorado into the water supply and into the food factory and the effects on those who eat the food. Widespread disease, unemployment, and starvation. The corrupt U.S. government is attempting to control the world economy for the benefit of U.S. corporations, and those trying to change the government are under attack. No man between sixteen and sixty can get a visa to leave the country unless they have served in the military or have a medical exemption. The main opposition group lives in an intentional community in Colorado. At the end of the year covered by the book, revolts are occurring throughout the U.S. and many cities are on fire.