Book Description

Published in 1890, Cæsar's Column takes place in 1988 New York in a rotten society that has lost its morals. The main narrator, Gabriel Welstein, is a visitor from the Swiss colony of Uganda, a utopian agricultural society. He reveals he has come to the U.S. to avoid the global Wool Ring, which has monopolized the commodity. In the city, Gabriel intervenes to save a beggar, who is actually an attorney and a part of a brotherhood that works to destroy the corrupt ruling class. Most of the book is in the form of letters that Gabriel writes to his brother Heinrich. The intriguing story deals with the writer's thoughts on society, politics, and the concept of social Darwinism. He brilliantly portrayed a man who came from a rural background to the heart of a ruthless capitalist oligarchy, witnessed its corruption firsthand, and noticed its collapse.